First U.S. Stealth Jet Attack on Syria Cost More Than Indian Mission to Mars

[n2doc]

F-22 Raptor stealth fighters were needed in case the Syrians used their sophisticated air defenses. But Raptors don't come cheap.

Fears of a potent Syrian air defense system drove the U.S. Air Force to send its silver bullet force of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters into battle for the first time ever. 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.

more

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/24/first-u-s-stealth-jet-attack-on-syria-cost-79-million.html

[JEB]

1. Maybe we should outsource

our killing to India.

[jberryhill]

3. that's brilliant!

"Hello, this is Roger from tech support. We have detected a problem with your computer and I need you to check your GPS location on your phone. Can you go to settings and under 'location services' read me the two numbers there?"

"Okay, we are sending a tech to your location. Can you stay there for another thirty minutes?"

[pinboy3niner]

6. No need to use Roger when you have a REAL pro on the job...

"Hello, my name is Peggy..."

[WillyT]

2. K & R !!!

[Fred Sanders]

4. $122 million per copy jet fighters are not required to drop bombs on gangs without an air defence.

[KurtNYC]

15. we are destroying Syria's air defense systems at Raqqa

[Fred Sanders]

22. Says who? My point is that America is using planes built to attack Russia to attack a gang.

[Gore1FL]

24. If it's Soviet (or more current Russian) provided air defenses, that's sort of the same.

In any event, the planes are in service. I suspect using other aircraft would not significantly change the cost of the mission.

[L0oniX]

39. Why not 3D print them?

[woo me with science]

5. And our president is signing food stamp cuts,

and we can't even get a farm bill without "pension smoothing."

This is insane. This is sociopathic.

[nationalize the fed]

7. +79 mil. Theft. And there's no real protesting going on.

How many desalination plants could that money have built so that CA and TX never have to worry about drought again?

http://costofwar.com

[woo me with science]

9. No kidding. And we are still waiting to hear from the war pigs

how they plan to pay for the *new* war.

What day is it now?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025530274#post10

And for the trillion in new nukes Obama wants.

[OnlinePoker]

18. Based on the Perth Australia Plant about 1/4 of a plant

I used this because the technological, labour, and social cost would be similar to a U.S. plant. Theirs cost $387 million Australian which comes $339 million U.S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Seawater_Desalination_Plant

And that's for one day of bombing.

[golfguru]

52. Where is the 1000 people march to protest this war?

Why is the president starting another war?
Will he give the Nobel peace prize back?

[Cali_Democrat]

8. And Bernie Sanders voted for that bill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024448838

[Iliyah]

11. Jeeeeeeezz

but but but

[Enthusiast]

58. Bernie was wrong. And I am not afraid to admit it.

My candidate of choice is not divine, he is a human being.

[Cali_Democrat]

64. And if Bernie voted against the bill and Obama vetoed it

You do realize that there would be no money for food stamps? None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Bernie and Obama were right. Sometimes you have to compromise in these kind of cases otherwise millions of Americans would have gone hungry.

The solution? GOTV 2014 and get the GOPers out of Congress!

[Plucketeer]

16. NO - they've got our priorities Right

Haven't you seen those ISIS baddies with their dangerous knives and rifles and RPGs??? And heaven knows they'll soon figure out how to fly their Ford Pickups and M-rap trucks on suicide missions against US soil! What's worse - having buildings and bridges collapse from disrepair or a hit from a drone F-150 pickup truck?

[karynnj]

23. Our President is signing the bill that Congress passed

There is no Presidential power to have a line item INCREASE (or a line item veto for that matter). The reality is that this is why we need to make those things voting issues - even in red states. The problem that we have is that when the Senate and House negotiate a bill in conference, they start with a Senate bill that is already a negotiation with the Republicans because it needs 60 votes. The House needs 50%, so theoretically, they can pass a bill with no Democrats and even losing some Republicans.

Then there are the dynamics of the two parties. It is not that the Republicans are better negotiators, have more "spine" or any other claim to greatness. The strength they have a huge core of legislators who really do not care if funding of the government lapses. We do - because it causes near immediate pain for those in the most need.

Just as the Democrats will accept far less than they would have wanted, the President, for the same concerns, will not veto the entire bill - especially when it is clear that no better bill is likely to result. (Look at what the future almost surely holds: From now until the election, it will be hard to even call them back for anything, then we KNOW that in the lame duck session, they will either be anticipating a much smaller Senate Democratic majority or a Republican majority,) Where are any forces that would make them decide to pass a better bill?

[olegramps]

31. I am afraid facts will not deter Obama's detractors.

[FlatStanley]

48. Or water from the koolaid drinkers

[ctsnowman]

44. X 1000

[Enthusiast]

57. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Just wait for the austerity measures that will be enacted to pay for this new war. We already had a preview with the last government shutdown.

[woo me with science]

10. Of course they have been planning for Syria. They already tried once, a year ago.

Only two countries left on the PNAC list, Syria and Iran: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025520459

And we can just imagine how corporatists plan to pay, not only for new wars, but also Obama's TRILLION in new nukes.

Through bipartisan collusion, we already got more austerity than Paul Ryan wanted. Gee, I wonder what will go on the table in budget negotiations *next* time.

Look at the OFFERS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022060108

Welcome to oligarchy. We are ruled by corporate warmongers and thieves.

.

[noiretextatique]

13. they will take food out of the mouths of children

they will continue to squeeze the unemployed by not extending benefits, gut public education, coddle wall street, etc, etc, etc. and they will claim that they are "pragmatists" and "moderates" while continuing their radical agenda. meanwhile, halliburton will reap obscene profits with no-bid contracts. later, rinse, repeat. sickening.

[Enthusiast]

59. Unemployment benefits make people lazy!

You. Must. Learn.

[thesquanderer]

12. If they invested war money into renewable energy development instead...

...there would be a lot less motivation for wars.

[Plucketeer]

17. We'll see renewables come to the fore

once the power barons figure out how to hang a meter on sunlight or wind. : :

[thesquanderer]

19. Maybe like this...

|

[hueymahl]

14. Fuck me

Any DU war mongers out there care to defend this?

[L0oniX]

38. They all signed up.

[LiberalLovinLug]

20. Just imagine where we'd be now if money was spent other than the MIC

Very roughly, the world spends $2 trillion every year on militarism, of which the United States spends about half, or $1 trillion. This U.S. spending also accounts for roughly half of the U.S. government’s discretionary budget each year and is distributed through several departments and agencies.

http://www.worldbeyondwar.org/impoverishes/


Imagine what a cool trillion a year could have transformed the country into by now. There could be a high tech high speed rail system for the entire country as well as state of the art bridges, tunnels etc.., free post secondary education, free medical insurance, billions more invested in alternative energy development, and yes, enough left over to explore other planets. sigh.

[n2doc]

21. Somebody recently posted the question "why didn't the world of 2001 happen?"

I responded with the same point you make. Even if we spent 1/2 of the military budget on other things, we would still militarily outspend any other country by a huge amount. We could have had orbiting hotels, Moon bases, all sorts of things, with some of that wasted money.

All down the rathole now.

[Gore1FL]

25. I have to wonder how the costing is set up.

F-22's were produced from 1996–2011. We already had them. Does it cost more for this craft to shoot missiles and drop bombs relative to the F-18, F-16, F-15, etc?

It seems like the criticism is placed on the F-22, but the costs involved are more ordinance-related (including the Cruise Missiles the Navy shot independently of the F-22 strikes) than actual F-22 specific costs.

[EX500rider]

27. The Raptor didn't really drive the bill up much..

It was the 47 cruise missiles they used that did.

The Raptors were only one of the line items for Monday night’s raids. The Daily Beast has tallied up a rough estimate of the cost of the initial air trikes in Syria. According to the Pentagon, the Navy fired 47 Tomahawk missiles, each of which cost about $1.6 million, for a total of $75.2 million. Assuming a mission duration of about six hours, and a strike package consisting of four F-22s, four F-15Es, four F-16s, two B-1 bombers and four MQ-9 Reapers—which would be consistent with Air Force doctrine—the total cost of Air Force portion of the bill would be about $3.9 million. Combined with the cost of the cruise missiles, the Syria raid cost the American taxpayer roughly $79 million, based on the Center for Defense Information data.

[frylock]

26. USA! USA! USA!

[RandiFan1290]

28. Oh! Yeah! Say it Slower!

[woo me with science]

29. kick for indefensible priorities

[4dsc]

30. Should India be proud of its cheap labor force?

Make me wonder why.

[JI7]

46. the mars mission had nothing to do with cheap labor

[Beartracks]

32. Oh, the things humanity could accomplish, if only... n/t

[Kaleva]

33. The F-22 Raptors accounted for a small fraction of the total cost. About 2%.

The U.S. Navy's tomahawks used in the strike cost $75.2 million according to the article.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

34. I was just coming to post that

The Tomahawks were what really drove the cost up.

[Kaleva]

36. And if one factors in the cost of operating the billion dollar plus DDGs that fired the missiles..

[YOHABLO]

35. The bottom line is it's just way too much money. I am sick and tired of hearing about how much it

costs when we have so many domestic problems in this country. It's ridiculous.

[L0oniX]

37. What a waste.

[Enthusiast]

60. Eradicating hunger would be Communist!

If you just fed everyone, who would work?

[L0oniX]

62. It would put Booger King out of business and people would lose jobs ...that don't support them.

[Plucketeer]

40. We really need to KEEP THINGS in perspective.....

We've not been threatened from Mars by an angry sect (mob) with Ford pickups and hand-me-down weapons. If we had been smart, we'd have fitted our Mars rovers with weapons just in case!

[n2doc]

41. To be fair, Curiosity packs a mean Laser!

http://www.space.com/26548-curiosity-s-laser-sparks-a-mars-rock-video.html

[Plucketeer]

43. Let's hope it stands it's ground

if the need presents itself!

[FlatStanley]

42. Freedom isn't free

[truebluegreen]

45. Whose?

[FlatStanley]

47. Does it matter? Since so many Democrats seem to be

In favor of our team's war, and give our President the excuses of trusting his decisions and bequeathing special knowledge not privy to us, it seems only natural to coopt the remaining tools used to promote the other team's war.

[truebluegreen]

49. It does matter--we need to make the point

that these wars have nothing to do with our freedom...or anybody else's.

[FlatStanley]

50. I know. And I completely agree.

It's just so disheartening to have to fight the same battles with supposedly like minded people

[truebluegreen]

54. +a zillion

[Enthusiast]

61. PLUS ONE, a whole bunch!

[golfguru]

53. You are ill-informed

Before our CIA engineered removal of Shah of Iran,
there was no 911, no ISIS, no terrorism.
If Bush did not attack Iraq, there would be no ISIS
and no war in Syria.

We need to get our military out of middle-east.
Who appointed us world police?
Why are we borrowing money from China to fight wars?

[FlatStanley]

55. This might help:

[bigwillq]

51. Obama's Wars are not cheap, that's for sure.

'Merica. Freedom Fries.

[golfguru]

65. why defend Iraq's borders when our own borders are

porous as hell? Worse yet, we are borrowing from China to defend Iraq's borders? What a fricking nightmare!

[Enthusiast]

56. This should tell us something.

But I wouldn't expect any US politician to recognize it.

[Zorro]

63. I seriously doubt the $74M figure for a Mars mission

Rocket science ain't that cheap.

[golfguru]

66. Everything is cheap in India

except gasoline and foreign cars (heavy tariffs).

Last time I visited, restaurant meal with 5-6 items was 50 cents, a haircut was 10 cents.

[dilby]

67. It's one of the reasons I am seriously considering retiring to India or Thailand.

I can live a middle class retirement here in the States or live like a rich man for once in my life on the beaches in India or Thailand.

[golfguru]

68. One of the very positive aspects in India is...

Almost all of the middle class and rich class speaks English.
Avoid the big cities, find a place in a small city at higher altitude.
All the rich people go to places like Ooty, Simla, Mahabaleshwar,
which stay cooler in summers due to altitude. But I am sure these are the expensive places.

[JI7]

69. clothes are not cheap , housing is not cheap , but basics are usually cheap

or provided for by govt. by basics i mean just what you need to get by day to day and live although it could be in a slum.

but food being cheap helps a lot. and i mean even really good restaurant food. even the cheap casual places will have food better than you can find at the best high end indian restaurants in new york, la etc.

[golfguru]

70. Prices of clothes in India

Prices of ready made clothes were expensive.
Especially name brands.

My mother never bought those for us.
Instead she bought cloth which was relatively very cheap.
There always has been a lot of fabric mills in India.
She sewed basic clothes for us such as pajama's on her
manual pedal Singer machine. Other clothes such as dress
shirts & pants etc were assigned to local tailor shops using
our own cloth material. There were many small tailor shops
to choose from and were also relatively very cheap. The
only problem I recall was that the tailors were not fast in
delivery.

Housing: Was always very expensive in large cities of Mumbai
and New Delhi and Bangalore. My father had 3 houses built
using contractors and they had to be cheap because he never
had lot of cash. We lived in a smaller town, not big city.