Good thing it didn’t happen :stupid:

How could anyone seriously believe this ?

Believe what, that the $80 will be achieved? That is for the future to see. I was just pointing out what classification the $80 belongs to.

Treaty ally cost and export prices are 2 different animals.

Yes and no. Partner & FMS sales are made at the same price that the US pays for the system. FMS “may” include fees but those are optional. This is why FMS sales are “estimates” because they depend on what the price is in any given year rather than a “promise” given years before actual procurement.

there is no way that the cost is under 100 or anywhere near the cost of Rafale or Gripens.

The URF is already well under $100 mil in the latest batch of F-35As. Per the Indian deal, the Rafale is north of $100mil for the “bare fighter” and that was before the $50 mil per fighter “customization”.

This is just not possible.

The reason is simple, economies of scale. LM makes more in one year (by 2020) than nearly 5 years of Rafale production. On the development side, since the USG & Partners have already paid for the basic development, it’s cost is not included in Partner & FMS sales (as per all FMS contracts).

I’ll have to dig around, but a recent governemnt (not the US) report did an apples/apples comparison of the F-35/Eurofighter/Rafale/Gripen/SH and showed that the F-35 cheapest overall.

@Sintra: Sorry that I was not clear enough, I was not referring to you.

Given that the F-35 is cheaper than the Rafale & Eurofighter, close to the Gripen & Super Hornet, and requires less operational support than any of them, I don’t see how the F-35 is at any disadvantage.

Finland’s Ministry of Defence plans to send out invitations to tender for the purchase of 64 new fighter jets. The new jets will replace the current stock of 64 F/A-18 Hornet jets, which have served the Finnish military since 1992.

The defence report, which was approved by the Parliament in February, says that the readiness of the current fleet must be fully maintained after the procurement.

“We have interpreted that to mean 64 fighter jets. Because the new jets are not faster and can’t stay up in the air any longer than the current ones, we will require the same number of jets to maintain the performance of our air defence”, says Lauri Puranen from the Ministry.

…

The ministry said it will send out invitations to tender in early 2018 to Boeing {F-18E/F} and Lockheed Martin {F-35A} from the US, Saab {Gripen E/F} from Sweden, Dessault Aviation {Rafale} in France and the British-European BAE Systems {Eurofighter}.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/mod_at_least_64_fighter_jets_needed_to_defend_finland/9946949

Um… Every jet that is on the RFP list has greater range & speed, especially armed, than a Classic Hornet. Where do they come up with these quotes?

The specifics of each MDF are of course classified, but since Israel plans on declaring IOC in December based on the Block 3i jets that it already has, it makes sense that the Block 3i MDF can do the job.

The $80 mil number is the URF/REC Flyaway price. Every customer knows this and is aware that you still have to buy all the rest of the goodies like spares, weapons, initial support & training, simulators, etc.

Since it only covers the SLEP kits and not the installation, $1.3mil per is completely within reason. SLEP kits can be something as simple as braces & brackets to strengthen specific locations and does not need to be entire spars, panels, etc.