Where do you get those numbers? Current flyaway costs, the cost to build an aircraft without taking research and development costs into account, are $143 million.
A billion dollars would have bought almost 7 F-22s.
the numbers come from various F22 posts on FR.
Some one claimed in some articles on FR that the per cost for the 187 planes is someting like $320 million with R&D. I think that number came from a Wa Po article, but not sure wiithout searching. That is the number the ‘powers that be’ used in their decision to halt production - as I understand the matter.
The other numbers come from “The Untimely Demise of the F-22” linked in another F22 post on FR. Just search ‘F22’ and you should find it in one of the posts from this month.
While the original question was about the first one billion from Cash For Clunkers, the actual number Congress allocated, to the completion today, was 3 billlion.
So just tripple what ever number of planes that would have been bought to gurantee US air superiority into the future. In a few years the US will be faced with export models of th PAK FA and the Chinese J-XX, for which only the F22 could counter, and without the F22, we lose all hope of air superiority against even the smallest opponent.
You must remember that you cannot just divide that Clunker number by the current cost per, rather you have to factor in that for each plane made the costs drop, like anything else. How many more planes you build determines the actual cost per. Had the original number been ordered for the USAF and an export version made then the costs per would drop into the Flanker cost per range or below.