The First U.S. Jet Strike Against ISIS Cost More Than India’s Entire Mission To Mars, No Big Deal

Dillon Cheverere11 years ago

Maybe I have too much pure America hombre in me, but I’m always surprised to learn that other countries are doing the same cool shit that the U.S. does. India made a successful trip to Mars?! The fuck did this happen? Did they rent an American shuttle, throw a ton of money at our astronauts, and use our Florida launching facilities?

I was confident we were the only country capable of making inner-galactic round-trippers like that. THAT’s the big news here if you’re asking me, and not that India’s entire Mars vacay was cheaper than America’s first F-22 Raptor strike against the ISIS fuckfaces, one that we knocked out before the sun even came up.

The F-22 Raptor, the Air Force’s shiny new toy that is capable of stealthily delivering airstrikes via precision-guided missiles, made its battle debut this week. These things are expensive, because the U.S. military doesn’t cut corners, but also because it’s a stealth fighter jet and I guess it costs a fuckton to make an aircraft invisible to radar. Go figure. The F-22 Raptor costs about $150 million. No biggie.

From The Daily Beast:

The Pentagon confirmed on Sept. 23 that the $150 million jets had struck an ISIS command and control facility in Raqqah, Syria with a satellite-guided bomb. That was right after an initial wave of U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles hit their targets around Aleppo and Raqqah.

But the Raptors’ first mission wasn’t cheap. Together, the missiles and airstrikes cost at least $79 million to pull off, according to a Daily Beast tally.

That’s more expensive than India’s mission to Mars, which was successfully completed Wednesday at a cost of just $74 million.

What a country..

[via The Daily Beast]

Image via Wikimedia Commons