Fighter Costs

Hi gang
A couple of threads make mention of fighter costs.
Just to add to the fracas I take the liberty of reprinting a paragraph from this week´s Flight International(Paris 2001 edition). The article is entitled “Battle for Survival”

” The F22´s $83.6 million average unit flyaway cost is based on 339 aircraft, a number set by the last QDR in 1997. That was a reduction of almost 100 from the previous procurement plan, and more than 400 fewer than originally envisaged when the programme was launched in 1985.”………..
The following paragraph quotes Congressman Jim Gibbons, a House of Representatives Armed Services Committee member.
” Increasing F22 procurement to the originally planned 750 aircraft would reduce flyaway cost to $74 million, says Gibbons-” about the same cost as an F15″- and allow the USAF to retire it´s F15E Strike Eagles and F117 Nighthawks, and reallocate it´s LM F16 Fighting Falcon Block 50s to the Air National Guard and Airforce Reserve, “effectively replacing three airframes with one”.
My own belief is that the F22 will cost substantially more than the Eurojets, whichever way you calculate it. I think in the near future the Yanks will use the F18E/F and F16Blk 60 to keep the European competition at bay. JSF is a long way off and probably not suitable for many customers.