That article is from 2016 and prices have come down since then. https://breakingdefense.com/2022/03/f-35-to-get-more-expensive-in-next-deal-program-exec-says/

That article is from 2016 and prices have come down since then. https://breakingdefense.com/2022/03/f-35-to-get-more-expensive-in-next-deal-program-exec-says/ https://breakingdefense.com/2022/03/f-35-to-get-more-expensi... The contract for lots 12-14, inked in 2019, included 478 F-35s for the US military and international customers. Under the terms of the agreement, an F-35A will cost $77.9 million in Lot 14, with the F-35B short takeoff and landing variant coming in at $101.3 million and the F-35C carrier variant at $94.4 million during the same period. Those prices are going up in the next lot due to inflation, but in inflation-adjusted dollars the price trajectory is generally downward. That's still more expensive than an F-16, but it's also a more advanced plane. I think the relevant comparison isn't the F-16.... it's competing modern fighters like the Rafale, the Eurofighter, and the Gripen. And the F-35 is competing with and beating them on price. (Direct price comparisons are impossible because of politics, hidden total cost of ownership concerns, government subsidies, etc. But... I've not heard it alleged that the F-35's cost is out of line with contemporaries)