Aircraft Operating Costs 4-18
4.4 MILITARY OPERATING COSTS
Data on military aircraft operating costs were developed in consultation with the various
branches of the armed services. Available data were obtained both from public websites as well
as telephone interviews with appropriate DOD and FAA personnel. In general, the values were
applied on an aircraft type-by-aircraft type basis where there were cost observations from at least
one military air service. In cases where there were no observed costs for a specific aircraft type,
the group average was applied. In the table below, the average weighted total is based on the
hourly weighted operating costs of each aircraft type.
The cost data were taken from data on aircraft reimbursement rates for various types of
aircraft.
13
Reimbursement rates are reported for four categories of users: DOD, Federal Agency,
Foreign Military Sales Users, and All Other Users. This report uses the All Other category
because it is the most complete cost metric. The aircraft operating costs include crews and reflect
the varying sizes of crews for a specific aircraft. For example, most military rotary wing aircraft
operate with a pilot, co-pilot and one or two other crew members. Some of the larger turbojet
aircraft with three or more engines conduct electronic surveillance operations and have large on-
board crews. The crew costs reported in Table 4-13 reflect this. In addition to crew cost, the
reimbursement costs include operations and maintenance costs and an asset utilization factor.
14
The asset utilization factor includes an allocation of healthcare costs for military personnel.
DOD does not include an element of ownership costs in the reimbursement rates. Asset
valuation for DOD aircraft is extremely complex because the assets are long lived and have had
many major upgrades over the useful life. For example, the Boeing B-52 has been in operation
by the military service since 1954, more than 60 years. It has had upgrades to its engines,
avionics, weapons systems and offensive and defensive electronic systems.
15
Aircraft
replacement costs are described in Section 5.
13
DOD, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Department of Defense (DoD) Fixed Wing
and Helicopter Reimbursement Rates. Accessed February 12, 2015, Fixed Wing and Helicopter Reimbursement
Rates; DOD, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Comptroller, “Collections for Reimbursements of DoD-
Owned Aircraft (Rotary Wing),” in Financial Management Regulation, Volume 11A: Reimbursable Operations
Policy. DoD 7000.14-R, Chapter 6, Appendix G. Accessed February 12, 2015, Reimburseable Operations Policy.
14
The asset utilization factor is 4 percent times the sum of costs for: fuel, depot level repairables, depot
maintenance, other and crew salary for each specific aircraft.
15
Boeing B-52. Accessed March 23, 2015, Boeing B-52.