With approximately $5 billion allocated for drones in the 2012 Department of Defense budget, America's entire drone program constitutes only about 1% of the entire annual military budget. In comparison, the military's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program alone cost the United States $9.7 billion in fiscal year 2012. US manned military attack aircraft cost anywhere from $18,000 to $169,000 per hour to operate - six to 42 times more than attack drones. Al Qaeda spent roughly half a million dollars to plan and execute the attacks on the United States on Sep. 11, 2001. In response, the United States spent roughly $2.2 trillion on funding manned air and ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and on homeland security costs in the following decade - over $4 million for every dollar al Qaeda spent,” according to a CNN article. You can clearly see that drones are much cheaper than manually sending troops in. Food, water, salaries for the military men, weapons, gear, transportation, and etcetera all account for the cost of troops. The drones only need to use money for the drones themselves which is much less than troops. According to the American Security Project, unclassified reports show that the MQ-9 Reaper drone used for attacks in Pakistan has a single unit cost of US $6.48 million and an operational cost of close to US $3 million. In contrast, each US soldier deployed in Afghanistan in 2012 cost the government US $2.1 million. It is clear that it is a win-win situation for drones. Drones save money and lives. How? Military troops cost more and drones don’t put any soldiers in life-threatening
With approximately $5 billion allocated for drones in the 2012 Department of Defense budget, America's entire drone program constitutes only about 1% of the entire annual military budget. In comparison, the military's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program alone cost the United States $9.7 billion in fiscal year 2012. US manned military attack aircraft cost anywhere from $18,000 to $169,000 per hour to operate - six to 42 times more than attack drones. Al Qaeda spent roughly half a million dollars to plan and execute the attacks on the United States on Sep. 11, 2001. In response, the United States spent roughly $2.2 trillion on funding manned air and ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and on homeland security costs in the following decade - over $4 million for every dollar al Qaeda spent,” according to a CNN article. You can clearly see that drones are much cheaper than manually sending troops in. Food, water, salaries for the military men, weapons, gear, transportation, and etcetera all account for the cost of troops. The drones only need to use money for the drones themselves which is much less than troops. According to the American Security Project, unclassified reports show that the MQ-9 Reaper drone used for attacks in Pakistan has a single unit cost of US $6.48 million and an operational cost of close to US $3 million. In contrast, each US soldier deployed in Afghanistan in 2012 cost the government US $2.1 million. It is clear that it is a win-win situation for drones. Drones save money and lives. How? Military troops cost more and drones don’t put any soldiers in life-threatening