What an Hour of F-35 Time Actually Costs

What an Hour of F-35 Time Actually Costs

Militärische Luftfahrt

Every time an F-35 Lightning II takes off, a clock starts running. Not just the mission clock — the cost clock. At approximately $42,000 per flight hour, the F-35 is the most expensive fighter to operate in the history of aviation. A single one-hour training sortie...
Why Every Fighter Jet Is Painted Grey

Why Every Fighter Jet Is Painted Grey

Militärische Luftfahrt

Walk along any modern military flightline in the world — American, European, Russian, Chinese — and you will notice the same thing. Almost every fighter jet is grey. Not dark grey. Not light grey. A very specific, carefully chosen shade of medium grey that seems to...
52,000 Feet, Then Gone: Triton Vanishes Near Iran

52,000 Feet, Then Gone: Triton Vanishes Near Iran

Nachricht

At 52,000 feet over the Persian Gulf, a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone squawked 7700 — the universal distress signal. Then it began falling. Within fifteen minutes, the $200 million aircraft dropped to 9,500 feet and vanished from every tracking system on...