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Low price means high sales volume means high profit. So, what does that tell us about expensive fighter jets?
World Of Fighter Jets
In the 21st century, there are warplanes, and then there are warplanes. Which type you get depends on how much you want to pay.
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Do you have hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around? Then, like the U.S. government, you can hire Lockheed Martin (LMT 0.90%) to design and build an F-22 Raptor stealth jet — widely considered the world's most capable superfighter. (Of course, if you curtail production before economies of scale accrue, the planes cost $412 million each).
Otherwise, the same amount will buy you a handful of fully operational Boeing (BA -0.16%) fourth-generation F/A-18 or F-15 fighter jets, which sell for about $100 million.
Shopping on a budget? You might like the beautiful Soviet-era Sukhoi Su-34 "Fullback". (List price: $18 million). Or if you prefer to buy local, Textron's (TXT 2.15%) new Scorpion is a steal at $17 million per plane.
Depending on the needs of a nation, different buyers choose different fighter jets at different prices. But what are the most popular combinations?
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10. Chengdu J-7 Fishbed (no longer in production) Ranked 10th in this year's Flightglobal Insight "World's Air Forces 2015" report is China's J-7 fighter jet. It is actually the Chinese version of the old Soviet MiG-21, which is no longer produced. Still, 418 remain in service, giving the fighter a 3 percent global market share.
China's export version of the J-7, called the F-7, is a twin of the Russian MiG-21. The F-7 figures have not suffered any damage in the past 12 months. A year ago, 460 were working worldwide. Today, each still flies, giving the F-7 a 3% market share.
8. Northrop Grumman F-5 Tiger -- List price: $20 to $25 million (estimate) After two dozen retirements last year, only 468 Northrop F-5 Tigers are still flying. The aircraft is no longer in production, but holds a 3 percent market share. AircraftCompare.com estimates that if the Tiger were produced today, it would cost somewhere in the low $20 million range.
Russia's answer to the American A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", the Su-25 is a specialized "tank-buster" aircraft. Apparently it's as popular as the Warthog. Only one Su-25 has been retired in the past year.
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506 aircraft are still in service, which also holds a 3% market share. With a new version currently in production -- the Su-39 -- the Frogfoot could rise in the future.
Although it was once the world's most popular fighter jet, it is no longer in active production and the number of active MiG-21s is dwindling. Its number decreased from 793 in 2013 to 698 in 2014 and 668 today. It's no longer made, so it's hard to say how much a new one would cost... but you can probably buy a used MiG-21 on eBay for about 25 grand.
The MiG-21 still holds a 5% market share. If you add all of its "twins" -- the Chinese J-7 and F-7 still flying -- the MiG-21 would have 1,546 equivalents in service and double its market share.
5. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum -- List price: $40 million Moscow's most advanced MiG reduced its market share to 5% (793 aircraft). This is enough to drop MiG to fifth place. However, a new version (MiG-35D) is expected to enter service in 2016, which will boost the MiG's prospects -- so stay tuned.
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4. Boeing F-15 Eagle -- List price: $100 million With a combination of high cost and low stealth, the international fighter jet race is losing more and more, Boeing's F-15 dropped one spot in this year's ranking and now takes the fourth place. On the Flightglobal list. With 11 less aircraft in service (854 total now), the F-15 is tied for 6% of the global market.
3. Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker -- List price: $22 million Russia's most popular fighter jet, the Su-27 Flanker, took first place this year -- and one of the reasons may be its low cost. According to military aviation experts at Deagel.com, the most advanced model of Su-27, called Su-35 Flanker-E, will cost 22 million dollars per copy.
Up two places from fifth place last year, the basic Flanker and its Su-30, -33, and -35 cousins now account for 6 percent of the global market share with a total of 874 aircraft in service.
In the same way, the position of No. 2, Boeing's F-18 fighter jet, in its various iterations, has a 7% global market share. In 2015, the number of F-18 fighter jets of the world's air forces reached 1046 planes.
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And last (first?), but not least, for the second year running, Lockheed Martin's F-16 Falcon is moderately priced in this year's Flightglobal report. With 2,242 aircraft in active service, the F-16 is still the most popular fighter jet on the planet, accounting for 15 percent of the world's air force.
Why Fighter Jets Matter to Investors So why is this important to defense investors? It works like this: The more planes a company makes and sells, the wider the base over which research and development costs are spread, and the less it can spend per plane.
Are you still with me Currently, Lockheed Martin has sold more than 4,500 F-16s worldwide. It's not surprising. After all, it is one of the most expensive fighter jets in our inventory. (Note that Russia also sold cheaper MiG-21s.)
Half of Lockheed's F-16s are still flying, and servicing, maintenance and upgrades generate revenue for Lockheed and generate an 11% profit on that revenue for its shareholders.
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But the aircraft that Lockheed hopes will replace the F-16, the F-35 stealth fighter, is more than three times larger than the F-16. In fact, some versions of the F-35 can cost as much as five times the F-16. With a price tag of about $150 million per copy, the question is: Can Lockheed Martin maintain its global market share dominance against much cheaper fighter jet offerings from Russia and China?
Personally, I have my doubts. Of course, if all goes according to plan and Lockheed Martin sells more than 3,000 F-35s over the next 60 years, the plane's current high price could generate huge profits for Lockheed. But if Lockheed doesn't sell them fast enough and prices drop fast enough to attract buyers, someday soon, this top-10 list of the world's most popular fighter jets will look very different.
Rich Smith does not own or short any of the companies mentioned above. You can find him on CAPS, usually under the handle TMFDitty, where he is currently ranked #359 out of 75,000 ranked members. Motley recommends and owns eBay shares. We don't all have the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a variety of viewpoints makes us better investors. Motley has a disclosure policy.
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Invest better with The Motley Fool. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance and more from The Motley Fool's premium services. A fifth-generation fighter is a class of jet fighter aircraft that incorporates key technologies developed in the first part of the 21st century. In 2022
, these are the most advanced operational fighters. The characteristics of a fifth generation warrior are generally inconsistent, and not every type of fifth generation must have them all. However, it usually has stealth, low-interference probability radar (LPIR), high-speed aircraft with high tourist performance, advanced avionics features and situational awareness, etc.
, the fifth-generation fighter-ready Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in December 2005; Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which entered USAF service in July 2015;
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