Post by macnz on May 9, 2015 12:20:28 GMT 12
Austalia's Financial Review publish interesting article this week citing the current operating costs of RAAF aircraft:
Sorry subscriber restricted so here is part of the article.
Defence budget boost to be dominated by $700m cost of war - JOHN KERIN
May 07
Australia's role in the war against Islamic State, which appears to have been one of the movers behind Prime Minister Tony Abbott's post-leadership spill poll recovery, is expected to cost up to $700 million this year. Defence sources suggest the cost of sustaining Australia's deployment in the Middle East, both in Iraq and neighbouring countries, will cost up to $700 million next financial year. Tuesday's budget is expected to maintain the Abbott government's drive to lift annual military spending beyond $50 billion a year by 2023.
Though Mr Abbott estimated the costs would be about $500 million a year when Australia first deployed 600 troops and fighters to the Middle East in 2014, his decision to deploy an extra 300 to a joint Australian/New Zealand training mission, was likely to add up to $200 million extra to the annual bill.
A 200-strong special operations task group was training Iraqi Security forces and 400 troops were supporting the air mission. Polls suggested the war had been popular but not enough for the Coalition to catch the Labor Opposition's lead.
A big part of the bill given Australia had avoided getting involved in a ground war directly with Islamic State, is the operating cost of Royal Australian Air Force war planes.
They include the FA/18 Super Hornet strike aircraft which costs $25,625 an hour to fly, the Airbus KC30A refueller which costs $16,000 a hour, the C-17 Globemaster transport plane which costs $24,000 a flying hour, the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft which costs $15,000 a flying hour, and the E7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft which costs $45,277 an hour. The prices included maintenance, fuel, operation and spares costs and were drawn from aircraft manufacturers, the US Air Force, Australian Parliament and Defence Department.
Sorry subscriber restricted so here is part of the article.
Defence budget boost to be dominated by $700m cost of war - JOHN KERIN
May 07
Australia's role in the war against Islamic State, which appears to have been one of the movers behind Prime Minister Tony Abbott's post-leadership spill poll recovery, is expected to cost up to $700 million this year. Defence sources suggest the cost of sustaining Australia's deployment in the Middle East, both in Iraq and neighbouring countries, will cost up to $700 million next financial year. Tuesday's budget is expected to maintain the Abbott government's drive to lift annual military spending beyond $50 billion a year by 2023.
Though Mr Abbott estimated the costs would be about $500 million a year when Australia first deployed 600 troops and fighters to the Middle East in 2014, his decision to deploy an extra 300 to a joint Australian/New Zealand training mission, was likely to add up to $200 million extra to the annual bill.
A 200-strong special operations task group was training Iraqi Security forces and 400 troops were supporting the air mission. Polls suggested the war had been popular but not enough for the Coalition to catch the Labor Opposition's lead.
A big part of the bill given Australia had avoided getting involved in a ground war directly with Islamic State, is the operating cost of Royal Australian Air Force war planes.
They include the FA/18 Super Hornet strike aircraft which costs $25,625 an hour to fly, the Airbus KC30A refueller which costs $16,000 a hour, the C-17 Globemaster transport plane which costs $24,000 a flying hour, the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft which costs $15,000 a flying hour, and the E7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft which costs $45,277 an hour. The prices included maintenance, fuel, operation and spares costs and were drawn from aircraft manufacturers, the US Air Force, Australian Parliament and Defence Department.
