Military weapons programs often find it difficult to predict their true
costs. From research and development to parts, material, and labor, combined with inflation,
it makes calculating the true costs of military programs quite difficult. Further complicating
matters is that there is so much subcontracting in making military weapons nowadays that
taxpayers may never truly know the real costs. Despite all of this, one can still determine a
pretty good estimate. To figure out how much a weapons program costs, you can divide it into
two categories: the total program cost and total unit cost. The total program cost would be how
much money was spent on a program from inception to service and through retirement. Unit cost is
the amount of money spent to research, develop, construct, and deliver one weapon system unit.
For the purposes of this video, we will look at the top ten most expensive unit costs for military
equipment currently in active service. Number Ten: K2 Black Panther tank
During the 1990s, South Korea underwent major renovations to its military. Because
the country had primarily operated hand-me-down Cold War equipment from the 1950s through to the
1990s, the South Korean government wanted to update its military equipment to be on par with
North Korea and enter the international arms market. However, there was just one problem.
South Korea's domestic arms industry was minuscule at best. Because it had never fully researched and
produced all its own weapon systems before, the South Korean industrial base was not equipped
to handle the military's request to redesign a whole line of domestically produced tanks,
ships, small arms, and other equipment the government wanted. Despite this,
South Korean politicians pushed forward even though it became clear that the South Korean
industry had some severe learning curves in developing modern military equipment.
Perhaps nowhere else was this learning curve felt more than with its armored forces. In the 1990s,
South Korea still fielded aging M48 tanks given to them in the 1950s. These tanks
were better suited for a museum than a modern battlefield. As a result,
Korean manufacturers had to design literally every system from scratch. Armor, fire control,
countermeasures, ammunition, communication equipment, the engine, and so much more had to be
designed and experimented with for the first time. It was the issues that the Koreans had with the
engines in the K2 Black Panther that ultimately delayed the program for years. Because the
domestically produced engines tended to cavitate, it took several trial batches of tanks for the
government to give up on a truly domestically produced engine and partner with a German
firm to help design new engines. Because of all these delays, the K2 eventually cost a whopping
8.5 million dollars per tank. Number Nine: M1 Abrams tank
The M1 Abrams tank has been the mainstay of American armored dominance since the 1980s.
Initially designed around the Main Battle Tank concept, the goal of the Abrams program was to
create a one-size-fits-all vehicle to eliminate other classes of tanks like medium and light
tanks. Though this concept had been around since the 1960s, and the Army had attempted this with
the M60 tank, incorporating all of the aspects that heavy, medium and light tanks brought to
the battlefield into one platform took decades to iron out completely. It was not until the Abrams
that the Army finally found its dream vehicle. However, building a new generation of Main
Battle Tanks was not easy. In fact, the Abrams would have to incorporate a host of cutting-edge
technologies never seen before. Part of that was its armor protection. Traditional armor on tanks
at the time consisted of either sloped steel armor plating combined with reactive, explosive
blocks. The engineering team that designed the Abrams wanted to try something different.
First, they had to create a new, highly classified composite armor that would go
around the outside. Next, they would have to design non-explosive reactive armor that they
could sandwich between the two other plates. By creating this new armor system, the Abrams could
defeat practically every type of high explosive and anti-tank munition an enemy could throw at it.
Combined with the armor developments, other features like the countermeasures,
communications suite, optics, and fire control system all added to the
huge cost in developing the tank. With these initial technologies, for Fiscal Year 1999,
the US spent about 6.21 million dollars per tank. Adjusted for inflation, that is about
$8.92 million in today's money. The costs of developing and maintaining the Abrams still
remain high. Congressional budget projections released in 2021 estimate that the Abrams will
eat up about 40% of the Army’s armor budget for the next several decades as the service continues
to upgrade it and develop newer models. Number Eight: Leclerc tank
The Leclerc tank is the main battle tank of choice for the French and Emirati armies. While some
estimates place a price tag of 30 million dollars per vehicle, this is a little excessive. Part of
the reason why the initial production runs of the Leclerc were so high was because of how many years
the French spent researching and developing a new main battle tank. With development
starting in 1964, the first Leclerc tank did not roll off the production line until 1990.
Part of the reason why there was so much development was not only because of design
challenges in building a modern tank to defeat emerging technologies but also in
finding a suitable partner. One of the only ways that the French government would allow
the project to go through was if the military could find another government to assist in
sharing the costs of the tank. After years of searching, the French government secured
a contract with the UAE to roughly split the cost of developing the new tanks.
Now with plenty of Emirati cash, the production of the tank finally went into full swing in 1990.
With a production run of just under 900 tanks, all the years of research and development that
went into those first production run tanks made the costs of production very high. However,
the French government released a more realistic number for what a Leclerc
actually costs to produce just last year. To keep up with changing battlefield demands,
the government ordered almost 300 tanks to be delivered by 2030 at
around 15 million dollars per unit. Number Seven: Trident II Missile
The Trident II missile is the Navy's part in the nuclear triad for nuclear deterrence on land,
sea, and air. The Trident II is housed on US and British-guided missile submarines. Being
the latest development in the family of Trident missiles spanning the earliest days of the Cold
War, the Trident II came into existence starting in the late 1970s. At that time,
Congress approached the military and told them they wanted a longer-range,
more accurate nuclear ballistic missile. As part of that contract, Congress told
the military to use as much competition as possible in procuring each component
of the missile. Due to the large number of contractors making up each part of the missile,
the cost inevitably went up. Another factor that made the cost go up was that
the missile had an extended range with its new and improved three-stage launch system.
The Trident II also incorporated a new and improved navigation system. Combining celestial
navigation from astronomical bodies along with inertial guidance, the missile is impervious to
any attempts at jamming it since it calculates and self-corrects its own course internally in flight.
Because of all these new developments, the missile comes in at about 30 million dollars
per missile. That does not include any of the modernization costs associated with ensuring the
decades-old missiles remain viable. Number Six: Eurofighter Typhoon
The best comparison that one can use to describe the Eurofighter Typhoon
is that it is Europe's F-35. Started by the British in the early 1970s,
the concept of the Typhoon was to create a fifth-generation fighter aircraft
comparable to planes the US was producing. To help offset the costs of the aircraft,
the British spearheaded the effort and roped in Italy, Spain, France, West Germany,
and anyone else who wanted to participate. Because of all the different needs of each
country, combined with the reunification of Germany putting a hold on German funding for
a few years, the development of the program was slow. For example, France demanded that
the aircraft be capable of launching and recovering on aircraft carriers. When the
other nations did not agree, France withdrew from the project to develop its own aircraft.
Since the Typhoon incorporated a whole host of new stealth technologies and other new developments,
the cost began to become quite high. Combined with the delays caused by years of bickering
back and forth between the partner nations, the price tag ballooned from a low of 90 million
Euros to 160 million Euros per aircraft. This cost is so high because it costs around $80,000
dollars per hour to fly. Number Five: F-22 Raptor
The F-22 Raptor was designed to replace the F-15 as the Air Force’s primary fighter
aircraft. Imagined in the early 1990s, with the War on Terror raging by the early 2000s,
the US government canceled the remaining half of the F-22 order from about 400
aircraft to just 195. They did this because of finances and changing needs for the Air Force.
At a unit cost of 150 million dollars, the F-22's price balloons up to $334 million if the cost of
research and development is factored into it. It was so expensive partly because of all the
new technologies associated with it and not having any foreign backers. Unlike the F-35,
Congress limited F-22 production solely for use by the US military. Because of this,
the F-22 is legally prohibited from being sold to any foreign country. Since many arms programs like
the F-35 rely on money from foreign governments to offset their costs, the US taxpayers had
to eat all of the costs of this program. Another factor influencing the high unit costs
is its cost to operate. At a mind-boggling 68,000 dollars to fly per hour, the aircraft is only
beaten out by the MV-22 Osprey and Air Force One. Number Four: F-35 Lightning
The F-35 Lightning remains the overall most expensive weapons program in the history of
mankind. At a price tag going into the trillions of dollars, the program intended to create a
one-size-fits-all aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, along with allied nations,
has ballooned well past any initial budgets. Why has been a source of political debate for decades.
While there are many reasons why the three versions average out to about 120 million
dollars per aircraft now, initial costs for the first few production runs tittered around
the 300 million dollar range. Why the first few hundred F-35s were so expensive is because they
absorbed years of research and development costs along with production delays due to experimental
technologies that conflicted with one another. Along with notorious issues with supply chain
management and sub-contractor problems, the F-35 also has very high maintenance
costs. Because only about 20% of the parts are shared between the A, B, and C models,
the logistics for the plane are a nightmare. The initial cost savings that the military thought the
plane would bring never materialized due to an ever-changing design and different
requirements amongst all the stakeholders. Number Three: Seawolf Class Submarines
Because naval vessels are the most capital-intensive, it’s no wonder why
the remaining ones on this list are all ships and submarines. The Seawolf class of American
fast-attack submarines comes in at number three on the list. Originally designed to replace the
Los Angeles class of submarines, the Seawolf class came about to counter Russian submarines.
While most fast-attack subs can take out a range of targets, from enemy shipping and warships to
submarines, the Seawolf class was designed specifically to target enemy submarines.
As a result, the Seawolf class of submarines are the most advanced in the US inventory and arguably
the world. These submarines can supposedly dive deeper and faster than any submarine
on the planet. They’re also extremely quiet. Because of all these ultra-stealth technologies,
so classified that the US government has released almost nothing about them,
it’s no wonder these boats cost so much. With an initial procurement
cost of 2.4 billion dollars per boat in the 1990s, adjusted for inflation,
these cost almost $3 billion apiece today. Number Two: Triomphant Class Submarines
Like the Seawolf class of submarines, the French built their own sub-hunter
that also serves as the nation's sea-based nuclear deterrent. The Triomphant class is
almost as large as its US counterpart, the Ohio class submarine. However,
it also incorporates many of the same design concepts as the Seawolf class.
With super-classified sensors that can detect submarines ten times more
accurately than previous French submarines and being 1000 times quieter, the Triomphant
class submarine is a marvel of French naval architecture. It also costs a pretty penny.
These boats adjusted for inflation at the cost of 3.1 billion Euros in 2009,
come to about 3.5 billion dollars today. Number One: Gerald R. Ford Class carrier
The Ford-class aircraft carriers are top of our list of the most expensive military equipment in
service. With current estimates placing the price tag at a staggering 13.3 billion dollars per ship,
the carrier is the most expensive naval vessel ever built. It costs so much due to
a combination of rushing emerging technologies, design changes, and testing failures that have
made the price for this carrier skyrocket. The Ford-class carriers came into existence
with good intentions. They were designed to cut down on the amount of crew needed to operate the
ship and its integral nuclear power plant. The ships were also supposed to have an advanced
set of arresting gears that put less stress on the airframes of the planes it launched,
along with being faster to refuel, rearm, and relaunch aircraft in a combat environment.
While all this sounded good on paper, it was different from what was expected in
real life. Because construction of the ship was finished before a lot of the new systems,
like the EMALS arresting gear and the electromagnetic weapons elevators,
were finished, there were constant changes to the ship's structure and other systems
that had to be done to accommodate some of these critical technologies.
The testing with getting the flight deck certified to launch and recover aircraft
also took years suffering from constant issues with the EMALS breaking down. Other technologies
like the dual-band radar meant to eliminate the plethora of radars typically on carriers also
did not work out as planned. Combined with these issues and literally thousands of other systems,
structural and engineering changes had delayed the initial deployment until September 2022, when the
ship finally left for her maiden deployment almost 13 years after her keel was first laid down.