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Top 10 Most Expensive US
Military Planes
To strengthen the military supremacy of thesuperpowers, modern and advance fighter aircraft weredeveloped and modified from time to time. As the USSenate votes to cut military spending on the$350 million F-22 fighter, heres a look at the militaryaircraft with the biggest price tags
No 10. F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million
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First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-enginefighter plane was the U.S.s first strike fighter an aircraft capable of attacking both groundand aerial targets. It has seen action in
Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft ofthe Navys Blue Angels Flight DemonstrationSquadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada,Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain andSwitzerland.
No 9. EA-18G Growler: $102 million
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Hot off the presses, the Growler is a lightly armed version
of the F/A-18 fighter that has been updated for electronic
warfare (it is currently being delivered to the Navy).
Growlers are capable of not only finding and disrupting
anti-aircraft radar, but also jamming enemycommunications.
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No 8. V-22 Osprey: $118 million
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No 7. F-35 Lightning II: $122 million
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Lockheed Martins 2001 deal to build this stealth,
supersonic fighter jets was at the time the largest military
contract ever. The F-35s, intended to replace an aging
aircraft arsenal, were developed as part of a Joint Strike
Fighter program between the U.S. and its allies and were
criticized as underpowered and overweight and
therefore easy targets. Making matters worse, from 2007
to 2008, cyber spies infiltrated the 7.5 million lines of
computer code that powered the Joint Strike Fighter,
raising concerns that enemies could copy the F-35s
design and exploit its weaknesses. In April 2009,
Lockheed Martin said it did not believe the program had
been compromised.
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No 6. E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: $232 million
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A major step forward for surveillance andreconnaissance, the Advanced Hawkeyespowerful new radar system will increase therange of territory an aircraft can monitor by
300%. It can probably watch the pistachiospop in Iran, an analyst for the think tankLexington Institute told National Defense inJuly. Though development of the plane is ontrack and two test versions have beendelivered to the Navy, budget cuts may keepthe planes grounded for at least a year longerthan planned.
No 5. VH-71 Kestrel: $241 million
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This high-tech helicopter project, intended toreplace the Presidents aging chopper fleet,was running more than 50% over budget bythe time Barack Obama took office. Soon after
his Inauguration, the President announcedplans to scrap the helicopters because of costoverruns. On July 22, however, the HouseAppropriations Committee unanimouslyapproved restoring $485 million to fund theKestrels.
No 4. P-8A Poseidon: $290 million
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Boeings spruced-up military version of its 737 jet will be
used by the Navy to conduct anti-submarine warfare and
gather intelligence. It can carry torpedoes, missiles,
depth charges and other weapons. The P-8A is expected
to go into service in 2013.
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No 3. C17A Globemaster III: $328 million
The Air Force military-transport plane is used to movetroops into war zones, perform medical evacuations andconduct airdrop missions. There are 190 C17As in service;
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The B-2 bomber was so costly that Congress cut its initial
1987 purchase order from 132 to 21. (A 2008 crash
leaves the current number at 20.) The B-2 is hard to
detect via infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual or
radar signals. This stealth capability makes it able toattack enemy targets with less fear of retaliation. In use
since 1993, the B-2 has been deployed to both Iraq and
Afghanistan.
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