How Much Does a F-16 Cost?

How Much Does an F-16 Cost

The F-16 is a fighter jet equipped with modern technology that the US Army use for attacking enemies with precision, and there is no fighter jet available that can match the speed of the F-16.

Regarding price, the F-16 is a really expensive fighter jet that can easily cost $13 Million to $80 Million depending on the variant you choose because there are multiple variants available for the F-16 with different options regarding technology and weapons.

Furthermore, the F-16 is an upgrade to a more expensive and less useful F-15, which was not a successful fighter jet, but the F-16 broke all the records while being in the category of budget-friendly fighter jets.

That is why the F-16 is popular not only in the USA but also in other countries, and the highest used warplane is also the F-16 involved in Iraq’s war zones.

How Much Does an F-16 Cost?

One unit of F-16 can easily cost between $13 to $70 or even more, depending on which country is buying at what time.

The F-16 is cheaper than other fighter jets and offers much more than old-generation fighter jets while being affordable.

Variants of F-16

F-16A/B

The F-16 has been continuously improving since its first launch, which was F-16A/B, and since then, n they are improving. The cost of one F-16A/B was $13 Million back in the 1980s.

F-16C/D

The second version of the F-16 was the F-16C. There was F-16D as well compared with the previous variant; these two variants were modernized with better avionics, radar, and all-weather capability, which also increased the per unit cost to 18 Million US Dollars back in 1984.

F-16E/F

The F-16E/F variant was the best version of the F-16, and the UAE was the first big buyer of at least 50 fighter jets, each costing60 Million.

F-16IN

Lockheed Martin developed this variant of the F-16e Indian MRCA competition. This is the most modern fighter jet equipped with advanced electronic warfare, infrared search, and track, and the final update of this plane was the improved cockpit glass.

The F-16IN was also called Super Viper, and India ordered 200 of these fighter jets with an investment of $15 Billion.

Engine Cost of an F-16

It would help if you kept in mind that F-16 engines are not sold to the public; only the official governments can purchase the engines of F-16.

On the other end, buying one engine will cost double that of buying engines in bulk.

The only manufacturer of the F-16 engine is Pratt & Whitney manufacturers. They proudly named the F-16 engine as F100 engine, which is Falcon 100 engine, because the F16 was given the name Fighting Falcon and the F-15 was named Eagle.

Recently, the engine development company made a deal with the Pakistan Air Force to supply 200 F100-PW-220 engines to Pakistan at the cost of $220 Million.

How much does an F-16 cost to operate?

Cost Per Hour

The F-16C Viper can cost $23,000 just in an hour.

Cost of Fuel

Fueling up an F-16 will cost around $5,700

Maintenance cost

There are no official statements about the maintenance of these planes, but a defense analyst suggested that it could cost between $10 to $15 million per year to maintain one F-16.

Can Civilians Purchase an F-16

Yes, civilians are allowed to purchase F-16s, but with so many restrictions, only a handful of people own them.

Other than that, civilians can purchase only the F-16 that has been demilitarized, and no citizen can purchase an F-16 with weapons on board.

F-16 A Successful Fighter Jet

F-16 had received enormous praise in battles, making it one of the world’s best fighter jets to date. They were used by the USA Air Force in 1991 when they deployed 249 units of F-16 against the Mig-25 of Iraq and successfully destroyed their planes with only one plane loss.

That makes F-16 the most powerful and precise fighter jet that is affordable.

Related Articles:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *