In doing a little research about the US Air Force, I happened across this little fact. Lockheed martin is the principal company which develops and distributes air force jets and weapons. They developed their first jet for the US Air Force in 1946. This jet was relatively affordable for the United States Air Force. However in continuing to do business with the Air Force, Lockheed Martins prices have gone dramatically upward. Lockheed’s prices for their jets have increased by a factor of 273. You might say, “but what about inflation?” Well the United States dollar has inflated from 1946 to now by a factor of 12. Therefore it is clearly evident that we are paying substantially more for our Air Force jets now than we did since the conception of Lockheed Martin.
Granted that the current jets supplied by Lockheed are far more capable than those developed in 1946. However my question is this – just how often are fighter jets utilized in air combat? I can’t personally answer this but I am wondering if you can shed some light on the subject. Are we really using our jets enough to justify such extravagant expenses? As of now the Air Force budget for 2009 is 143.7 Billion dollars. My question is this: is there anything that could be sacrificed without losing our military advantage?
