I was thinking about this the other day, and I have no clue, and was hoping someone could provide some insight?

So does anyone know how much does it cost per hour on average to operate a modern fighter exluding the actual cost of the aircraft, cost of crew, and support payroll, weapons expended etc..?

I'm talking just fuel + maitainence costs???

I am guessing tens of thousands of dollars per hour, but hopeful someone with more knowledge will chime in.

[edit on 10-9-2004 by boosted]

[edit on 10-9-2004 by boosted]

I don't know about a fighter but the big Hercules Transport aircraft is about $10,000 an hour so I expect its a little less than that.Thats probably puplic knowledge so you can most likely find it in Goverment web pages.