Over the next few days, i will be posting the most expensive military platform of the East and West bloc. This is in response to the criticism of Explorers recent topic on the top 10 most expensive military weapons. it was noted that all the weapons he listed were American made. My comparison will be based on the following platforms:

1)Aircrafts: Attack aircrafts, Bombers, Cargo Planes, Electronic Warfare, Fighters, Force Multipliers(Areal Refuellers), anti-submarine warfare, drones.

2)Ships: aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers and battleships.

3)Helicopters: Gunships and Troop transport.

4)Tanks

5)Missiles: Ballistic, cruise, air-to-air(heat seekers and anti-radar)

6)anti-aircraft weapons.

Effort will be made to ensure that all quoted prices are in 2016 dollars. where this is not possible, it will be duly stated. Please note that this is simply a list of The MOST EXPENSIVE and NOT the Most EFFECTIVE weapons across the stated category. it will essentially be a review of US weapons(including those of UK and France where relevant) against Russia(Including China and India where applicable).
Almost all the expensive platforms belong to the US. with few notable exceptions, they are usually the most effective. Off course you are free to have dissenting opinions.

The 2015 military expenditure of top 5 nations is provided below. The estimated total military expenditure for the world in 2015 was $1,676 Billion.

1)USA: $ 597.5 Bn(35.6%)**

2)China : $ 145.8 Bn(8.7%)

3) Saudi Arabia: $81.9 Bn(4.9%)

4) Russia: $65.6 Bn (3.91%)

5) United Kingdom: 56.2 Bn(3.4%)

**percentages of total world spending.

The figures are as quoted by the International Institute of Strategic Studies(IISS)

Following bro.

AIRCRAFTS

Attack Aircrafts
These are basically military jets used for close air support for ground troops in combat operations. They have the beauty of being able to loiter and pump a lot of lead(or depleted uranium) into enemy personnel, armored vehicles and even tanks.They usually employ either 30mm cannons(for personel) and 105mm cannons for armored targets. The most popular plane in this category is the American A-Warthog.


USA.

The AC-130 Spectre.
Remember that plane that chew up the White House in Olympus has fallen? That is the current mainstay of the American close air support warfare. The aircraft is exclusively used by the American military. The plane was first introduced in 1968 and several versions of it has since being retired. The plane is the best in CAS duties(Only the A-10 Warthog is more Popular and less costly)

Crew: 13
Speed: 300mph
Weapons: 1× 30 mm ATK GAU-23/A autocannon(or 40mm Bofors/ 25mm Gatling Cannon), 1× 105 mm M102 howitzer, AGM-176 Griffin Missiles and AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles.

Price: $253 Million (2016 dollars)

Russsia

SU-25

The sukhoi-25 frogfoot is the current aircraft employed by the Russian armed forces for close air support. The aircraft has recently seen action in the Syrian crisis, the Russo-Georgian War as well as a host of others. It is a single seat, twin engine aircraft developed by the Sukhoi design Bureau of the former USSR. It was introduced into service in 1981. The aircraft is highly maneuverability and can defend itself. it is an export favorite due to its cheap price
Crew: 1
Speed: 606mph
Range: 1000km
Weapons: it utilizes a 1x Gsh-30-2 30mm for soft targets. It can also launch series of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles. It also may carry guided and unguided bombs.
Price : $11 Million dollars

BOMBERS
Bombers have one simple mission: drop heavy number of ordnance on the enemy. they are usually slow(subsonic) and often require escorts to complete their mission. however, some bomber now have SEAD capabilities ensuring that they can complete their missions alone. they also form the third leg of the nuclear triad. the most notable are B-2 spirit, B-52 Strofortress(BUFF), B-1 Lancer, Tu-95 Bear and the Tu-160 Blackjack.

USA

B-2 Spirit

This is arguably the most expensive aircraft produced. The bomber has the least RCS(radar cross section) of any bomber in existence with its embedded engines, advanced stealth clothing and internal bomb bays. it has the ability to penetrate dense AA/AD environment with arrays of advanced electronic jammers anti radar missiles. The bomber is also tasked with delivering nuclear bombs along with the B-52 to Russia and and China. However, it is also capable of dropping conventional ordnance. the plane was introduced in 1997 with only 21 units purchased. it is not exported to any nation. the plane cost about $135,000(N54 million) per flight hour. The plane can be refuelled in air.
crew: 2
speed: 630mph
Ordnance: Nuclear and Standoff weapons
Price: $2.1 Bn

following...

Hmmmm,this is serious,naija is your brain and smartness!!

I don't know why the bot keeps on banning me and deleting my posts. I hope to continue tommorow if the bot let's up.

@explorers, do you know y this thing keeps banning me?

taraworld:
I don't know why the bot keeps on banning me and deleting my posts. I hope to continue tommorow if the bot let's up.

@explorers, do you know y this thing keeps banning me?

May be there is a post you keep modifying.

Explorers:

May be there is a post you keep modifying.

not really. it was a first time post

CARGO PLANES

Often called strategic airlift assets, the importance of these airframes cannot be overemphasized. As versatile as the Apache was in Iraq, they can’t move from USA to Europe on their own. When you fight an overseas war, you need airframes that can transport your troops and their equipment rapidly. While movement by sea is an option, it is a slow one. This is where the strategic mobility airplanes come in. they can move troops, tanks, guns, helicopters and even other airplanes across continents in short order. The largest plane in this category id the Russian Antonov-124 that can lift about 150 tonnes.


USA

C5-Galaxy
Manufactured by Lockheed, this plane can transport 122 tone of materiel over 4400km at spend in excess of 905 kmh. It can carry tanks, fighters, barges, trucks and what have you.

The price is a stiff $262.75 million for the C-5B variant in 2016 dollars.

RUSSIA
Antonov An-124

The An-124 is the largest military aircraft in existence. It can transport about 150 tonnes of materiel over vast distances. it is more capacious than any other military plane and is only exceeded by the Boeing 747-8 series in gross weight. The An-225 Mriya is larger but was not deployed into the military.

The price is around $100 million

Electronic warfare planes.

These planes are utilised in gathering ELINT. They usually possess extensive electronic warfare suites, powerful radars and jammers. The most powerful Nations employing this planes are Russia and USA. They allegedly have the capability to spoof enemy radars, insert false targets and jam enemy communications over vast areas. When operating in AWACS role, they can guide friendly fighters to their target without having the fighters turning on their own onboard radars. And when this babies are in-theatre, no matter how low you fly, they will always pick you out.( A common strategy for enemy planes is to fly as close as possible to the ground so that they can avoid ground radars and airborne radars may also confuse them with ground clutter). Because they are so big and slow, you may want to shoot them down fast before they do their job. wont be easy though since they usually have fighter escorts, can jam missiles and also employ chaffs and flares.


USA

E-3 Sentry

The most expensive AWACS plane in the US inventory is the E-3 Sentry. It was developed from the Boeing 707 frame and introduced in 1977. This platform cost $244.4m in 1998 dollars. it features the distinguishing radome of this class.
Crew: 13-19(4 flight crew)
Speed: 530mph
Range: 4000nmi
Price: $270m(1998 Constant prices)

Russia

Beriev A-50 Mainstay

This is the backbone of the Russian AWACS system. it was introduced in 1984 developed from the Il-76 frame. it features a large radome on its back with ultra-powerful radar. it has also been employed by Russian in Syria recently. The plane is also employed by the Indian airforce with china also placing orders for four.
The plane can track 50 targets in a 230km cone. For large targets like surface ships, they can be tracked from 400km out.

Crew: 15
Speed: 559mph
Range: 9 hours endurance
Price: $250m(2016 US dollars)

Fighters

These are the planes you love in movies and novels- fast, agile and pumping out those sizzling hot and dangerous missiles at other planes while dodging (Think of Top-Gun/Flight of the Intruder). Yea, those are the fighters. They are usually tasked with gaining air superiority in theatre wars. They may be employed in the air-to-air role or air-to-ground role. In offensive roles, they are used to clear the airspace of enemy airborne fighters, bombers, drones and ELINT planes. They also launch missiles to clear out enemy radar installations that may threaten their own air packages.
The most important qualities of this class are agility, thrust vectoring, maneuverability, BVR engagements (for this you need superb long range radar/AWACS, and capable Missiles), Stealth as well as speed.
When speaking of this class, you hear terms like
Fox 1: Launch of semi active radar guided missile like the AIM-7 Sparrow
Fox 2: Launch of Infrared homing missile like the AIM-9 Sidewinder
Fox 3: Launch of active radar homing missiles like the AIM-120 AMRAAM or AIM-54 Phoenix.
Most notable aircrafts in this category are
1. The F-22 Raptor(USA)
2. The F-18 Hornet
3. The F-16 Falcon
4. The F-15 Eagle
5. The F-14 Tomcat
6. The Su-35 Super Flanker(Russia)
7. MiG- 29 Fulcrum
8. Su-30 MKI
9. Su-27 Flanker
10. Sukhoi T-50/PAK FA(under development)
11. Dassault Rafale C (France)
12. Mirage 2000
13. EuroFighter Typhoon(Euro)
14. Mitsubishi F-2
And a whole host of others.

Russia
Sukhoi Su-35 Super Flanker

The Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E is the most potent fighter currently in operation with the Russian Air Force. The powerful twin-engine fighter, which is an advanced derivative of the original Soviet-era Su-27, is high flying, fast and carries an enormous payload. That, combined with its advanced suite of avionics, makes the Su-35 an extremely dangerous foe to any U.S. fighter, with the exception of the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. That is one of the reasons the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force is keen to acquire the new jet.
The Su-35 builds on the already potent Flanker airframe, which in many respects already exceeded the aerodynamic performance of the Boeing F-15 Eagle. The Su-35 adds a lighter airframe, three-dimensional thrust vectoring, advanced avionics and a powerful jamming capability.
The addition of the electronic attack (EA) capability complicates matters for Western fighters because the Su-35’s advanced digital radio frequency memory jammers can seriously degrade the performance of friendly radars. It also effectively blinds the onboard radars found onboard American-made air-to-air missiles like the AIM-120 AMRAAM.

Crew: 1
Speed: 1490mph(mach 2.1)
Armaments: Guns(1 x 30mm Gsh cannon) Rockets, Missiles(R-77, R-73, Kh-31 , Kh-59), Bombs( guided and unguided 250-500kg bombs)
Price: $65m(2013 costant prices)

USA

Lockheed F-22 Raptor

Which fighter in the US inventory deserves to be the best? Of course is the infamous, ultra-sleek, ultra-sexy and devastatingly dangerous Lockheed Martins F-22 Raptor(it was named after a super dangerous dinosaur, the Velociraptor- Jurassic Park).
With all its stores carried internally, it is virtually invisible to enemy radars and other sensors. Powerful AESA radars, electronic defense and offense suites as well as the ability to supercruise makes it perfect to penetrate the dense AA/AD environment of the Russian homeland(whether this is true is debatable). However, it will comfortably evade the defense systems of most nations. The first inkling you’ll have that this plane is in-theatre is a wakeup call from an anti-radiation or heat seeking missile.
The plane is super maneuverable and employs a fly-by-wire system. The plane has an astounding 1.7millions lines of code mainly to process its radar info.
With a program cost of around $34 billion, each plane will cost around $339 million, though each additional unit is supposed to cost just $150 million.

Crew One
Armament • Two AIM-9 Sidewinders
• six AIM-120C Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM)
• one 20mm Gatling gun
• two 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM)
First flight: September 7, 1997
Date Deployed deliveries beginning in 2002
operational by 2004
Price: $150 million

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No wonder extraterrestrial intelligent beings keep avoiding us.

Because we are primitive blood tasty sweaty hairy fragile organisms

Tankers.

Planes that can refuel other combat planes mid-air are great force multiplier. They grant longer legs to planes that have shorter range. For example, the mainstay of the Russian strategic forces air-arm is the Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack(12000+ km) and Tu-95 Bear(15000 km) which are so costly and thus not so numerous. The Tu-22M (5400km) can also carry strategic (Special) weapons (Actually, every plane design of the USSR era was designed to carry nukes) but lacks the range to threaten American homeland. However, if they are refueled mid-air along the route by the Ilyushin-76 tankers, carry out their attack and refueled on their way back, they can be pressed into service as strategic assets. Furthermore, they can also improve the loiter time of other planes especially when carrying out air-superiority missions. Thus, they form an important part of any modern airforce.

USA

KC-10 Extender

The costliest aerial refuller in the US inventory is the aptly named KC-10 extender. Based on the DC-10 airframe, this plane first flew in the 80s to supplement the KC-135 stratotanker already in existence. However, the cost and the endurance of the KC-135 airframes limited the numbers produced to just 62 with 59 in the US inventory and 2 with the Royal Netherlands airforce.
Crew: 4
Manufacturer: McDonnel Douglass
Range: 4400 miles
Speed: 619mph
Cost : $88.4m (1998 $)

Russia

ILyushin 78 Midas

Conceived in the early 1960s, the ILyushin Il-76 transfer tonnage of less than 10 tonnes of fuel makes it impractical and uneconomical. Improvement in technology in the 1980s gave birth to the Il-78 which can transfer up to 74 tonnes of fuel at about 2000 liters per minutes. It has served in the airforce of several nations including the former Baltic Nations, Indian, China and several African nations (Nigeria excluded).
Crew: 6
Manufacturee: Ilyushin Design Bureau
Speed: 528 mph
Range: 7300 km
Cost: $116m (2013 $)

Naval Warfare

Naval warfare deals with war carried on, or launched from sea based assets. As such, Naval Assets will include ships as well as Ship based planes and helicopters and Submarines. The ability to project power and conduct overseas war by any nation is usually based on its Strategic air mobility( which is often limited) and a Blue water navy.

Types of Navies

Blue-Water Navies: A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally; essentially across the deep waters of open oceans. Such a navy is said to possess maritime expeditionary capabilities. While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise sea control at wide ranges. The Defense Security Service of the United States has defined the blue-water navy as, "a maritime force capable of sustained operation across the deep waters of open oceans. A blue-water navy allows a country to project power far from the home country and usually includes one or more aircraft carriers. Smaller blue-water navies are able to dispatch fewer vessels abroad for shorter periods of time."

Aircraft Carriers

These are Ships that are deployed by Blue navy nations to project their powers beyond their local seas. They are essentially mobile military bases with extensive number of Airplanes, helicopters and military materiel deployed. The extensive cost of building and the even more inhibitive cost of running and maintaining these ships have ensured that only the most powerful of Nations have these mammoths in their inventory. This Includes USA( with more carriers than the rest of the world combined), Russia (now inactive), China, India, France and UK.

The Gerald R Ford Class Carriers (USA)

There are the current mainstay of the American navy and are scheduled to replace the Nimitz class. At 333m(thrice the length of a football field), a height of 76m and displacing 100,000 tonnes loaded, these are the behemoth of the sea in terms of military power. The ships have 25 decks and can roam the seas for 20-25 years unrefueled due to usage of Nuclear power. It is only limited by operational stores such as aircraft fuel and parts for its embarked airwing as well as food. With the use of underway replenishment Ships, these carriers can be at sea for as long as operationally required.

While most other nations use either Ski jumps or CATOBAR system to launch their planes, the newest US American carriers use the EMALS(Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System). This is more kinder to the airframes and more safer. It also ensure all weather operational readiness.

Crew: 2600+
Aircraft Carried: 75+
Cost : 13Bn USD (2018 USD)