American arms dealers will always make a lot of money. This is no longer a secret. The U.S. military creates conflicts and frictions all over the world, and one of the most important missions is to sell arms. The U.S. military's munitions are famous in the world, but they are also very expensive. Most of the arms sold by the United States to other countries are at sky-high prices. For example, the UAV project cancelled by India has a unit price of more than $100 million. The fighter planes sold by the US military to Saudi Arabia and other tyrants in the Middle East have reached astonishing prices, which can be described as a bloody profit.
Qatar ordered 36 advanced F-15QA fighters from the US military. The total price reached 12 billion U.S. dollars, and the unit price was a staggering 333 million U.S. dollars, which did not include the maintenance costs in the later period. According to this unit price calculation, one F-15QA fighter can buy 4 F-35 fighters. This unit price level is also equivalent to three F-20, which can be described as very expensive. The F-15 fighter is an all-weather, highly maneuverable tactical fighter developed and produced by the United States. It is a heavy-duty fighter. It has been in service since 1976 and has been in service for nearly half a century. The
F-15 is also a classic fighter. Israel used it for the first time and achieved a good fighter. Because it is a heavy fighter and its design is relatively advanced, its price is also very high. In the early days, only the United States, Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia used F-15 fighters. The performance of this fighter is relatively stable. It has not been shot down on the battlefield. Most of the crashes are caused by our own reasons, so its performance can be trusted. However, the upgraded version of F-15 fighters purchased by Qatar has a unit price of more than US$300 million, and it is a bit too expensive to even buy three F-20s. The unit price of
is three times that of the F-20. Why are the old fighters that have been in service in the US military for nearly half a century sold for soaring prices? According to the public report of , the upgraded F-15QA fighters purchased by Qatar are not yet fully in place. It is estimated that the sum of the costs in the later period may be higher. It is reported that at the beginning of 2020, the first F-15QA prototype ordered by Qatar was put into testing. The F-15QA prototype will make its first flight on April 14th. The third fighter will also be tested in the near future. It is expected that the actual reception time should be In 2021. Z1z
The United States needs to spend a lot of money to upgrade its avionics, radar, electronic and weapon systems. However, the prototype of this fighter only costs 40 million to 60 million US dollars, and the upgraded version directly reaches 330 million US dollars, which is definitely a sky-high price. AN/APG-82(V)1 Advanced Electronic Scanning Array (AESA) radar, equipped with a two-seater glass cockpit, digital fly-by-wire control, etc. is one of the reasons for the high price. Of course, in addition to the high price of equipment upgrades, what is more important is that Qatar wants to win the support of the United States by buying fighters, which is what we usually call protection fees.
Obviously, this fighter is sold at a sky-high price, and the most important thing is the protection fee behind it. In order to win the support of the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries always spend their money to buy US military fighters. The purchase price is often several times more expensive than Israel. The unit price of the Rafale fighter purchased by India has also reached more than 200 million US dollars, which is also high because of its eager purchase. It can be said that Qatar bought an old fighter plane that has been in service for nearly half a century and paid a sky-high price. It is also a kind of helplessness because it must please the American master.
