This 1989 Aircraft Still Holds The Title For Most Expensive Military Aircraft Ever Built

Military spending is big business. It's estimated that the US spent $997 billion on defense in 2024, which is more than the next nine countries spent combined. So, it stands to reason that the most expensive military aircraft ever developed would hail from the land of the free. What might surprise a few folk, though, is the fact that the aircraft in question isn't some new-fangled fighter jet, but an aircraft that actually hails from 1989.

It is, of course, the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit – a heavy penetration stealth bomber, known and feared the world over for its ability to slip by radar detection systems without being spotted. Despite approaching its 40th birthday, the B-2 Spirit is still wildly impressive. It boasts four General Electric F118-GE-110 non-afterburning turbofans that generate 17,300 pounds of thrust each, giving the stealth bomber a top speed of 628 mph.

It also has a maximum take-off weight of 170,600 kilograms (376,109 pounds) and can carry a payload of up to 40,000 pounds. However, as impressive as these stats are, they don't entirely explain what makes the B-2 Spirit cost so much.

Initially, the B-2 Spirit set the U.S. military back just $737 million. Sure, that's a significant investment, but it actually wound up costing a whopping $2.1 billion. The costs soared for the B-2 because of the significant updating, retrofitting, and adjustments it required over the years, with much of the updating happening back in 1997.

The B-2 is smothered in a pricey coating — dubbed 'alternate high-frequency material' — which improves its low-observability, but $60 million is required every seven years in routine maintenance for each of the 20 bombers the USAF uses. This upkeep is what makes the B-2 Spirit pricier than any of the most expensive celebrity-owned private jets, and it also goes some way to explain the $135,000 per-hour flight costs, too.

To further put the cost of a B-2 Spirit into perspective, the gargantuan Air Force One cost just a fraction of one B-2's value, at $660 million, and an F-22 Raptor looks comparatively like the bargain of the century, at a mere $350 million.

All good things must come to an end, and the B-2 Spirit is set to begin a well-deserved retirement by 2029. With billions being spent each year, it's clear that military tech is something that doesn't stand still, so the time has come to replace the B-2 with something even more advanced.

America's answer is the B-21 Raider – a sixth-generation strategic bomber. Comparing the B-21 and B-2 reveals that the new aircraft is designed to be even more slippery in terms of radar recognition than the B-2, and analysts expect the replacement to either match or surpass the B-2's 6,900-mile operational range. One area in which the U.S. government is hoping the B-21 Raider won't surpass the B-2 Spirit, though, is in their checkbooks.

The replacement is estimated to have a $692 million per-unit cost, which significantly undercuts the aging B-2, coming in even cheaper than its predecessor's original price tag of $737 million back in 1989. A planned fleet of 100 units are earmarked for production, with a total cost estimated in the region of $203 billion, or just over 20% of last year's total defense spending.