Cost of building aircraft carrier
Updated: 2011-07-22 10:29
(Agencies)
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 Admiral Flota Sovetskovo Soyuza Kuznetsov [File photo] |
The cost of building a medium-sized, conventionally-powered, 60,000-tonne carrier similar to the Russian Kuznetsov class could exceed US$2 billion.
According to the United States Government Accounting Office (GAO), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier cost about 58 percent more than a conventionally powered carrier. In their report, the average life-cycle costs in fiscal year 1997 dollars for the Nimitz carriers are as follows:
Construction costs - $4.5 billion
Mid-life overhaul costs - $2.3 billion
Operating and support costs - $14 billion
Other costs - $1 billion
Total average cost - $22 billion each
Navy military researcher Li Jie said it is about $100,000 per hour, millions a day for Nimitz-class carrier, USS George H.W. Bush, with construction costs about $6.5 billion.