I don't know what the source is but it doesn't seem that good. For example - the cost of the F-35 program is insane. It's at $2 trillion right now but that's only the current estimate. The project cost is certain to keep going up and it might be $2.5+t or who-knows-what in a decade.
The F-35 fighter will now cost more than $2 trillion | Responsible Statecraft
it looks like the image is cost of operations/support/maintenance per aircraft
you are right to point out the bloated budget of the F-35 program, but that is including all research and development. the numbers here aren't taking that into consideration.
I guess the best thing would be if somebody really did all the work and laid out the total per aircraft and per program cost stuff for
- planes
- ships
- etc
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Ninja edit
The problem of course is if you shared it with libs - they'd balk anyway and refuse to actually debate. They'd say stuff like "These numbers are wild approximations and they are deceptive." As if it matters much if the graphic says planes cost an insane $300b a year but number is "probably the much lower" but still insane $250b. And if you set out the numbers over 10 years - then they complain about stuff like inflation and many details about projects are unknowns.
It makes me think of how libs always think of military budgets as yearly. But they love to slime stuff like m4a by quoting the total huge cost over, say, 20 years.
I think lib responses can basically be boiled down to them taking full advantage of plausible deniability. They'll never admit to themselves or others that they're intellectually dishonest.
I still have questions, like how tf is the per plane maintenance for an f-35 equal to an f-15
I imagine the amount of manpower/time going into maintenance is probably similar, but yeah the munitions for the F-35 seem to be much more expensive. Up to 4x more expensive for F-35's AIM-9X Sidewinder ($450,000+) vs. F-15's AIM-7 Sparrow ($125,000).
I've seen this graph before and they should include procurement and r&d costs per unit as well
Rather then argue about the specific numbers/time scales/appreciation/other accounting tricks. I see any amount as just stealing tax dollars to give to MIC executives. If the MIC were just a national make work program, I'd be all for it. But since these are all profit generating ventures, there isn't really any value in additional analysis.
