A reminder: Trump misappropriated military funds meant to more safely house our troops to spend on his border wall instead. Meanwhile Trump’s July 4 parade for himself featured 2 Abrams battle tanks, a B-2 stealth bomber, 2 F-35Cs, 2 Super Hornet F-18s, 4 Apache helicopters, 2 F-22 Raptors, H-60 and H-65 helos, the BlueAngels & Air Force One.
The cost of one F-35 alone is between thirty and fifty thousand dollars per flight hour, per Forbes and Defense News.
Per the Atlantic and Flightglobal, the B-2 can cost up to $135,000 per flight hour. Per the US Navy, $11k/hour for F-18 Super Hornets. Per the DOD/USAF, $35-68k/hour for F-22As. 6.8k for each of the four Apaches.
SFGate worked out the cost-per-demonstration of the Blue Angels at around $630,000. Fuel for one plane for one 75-minute period alone is around $40,000.
The Air Force reported in 2016 that the cost per flight hour for Air Force One is $180,000.
Assuming the best case cost scenario, and excluding the H60 and H-65 and Blue Angels, that’s $495,000 per flight hour just for the air assets.