Can A Civilian Purchase A Fighter Jet Or Military Aircraft?

Can A Civilian Purchase A Fighter Jet Or Military Aircraft?

Have you ever dreamed of owning a fighter jet? Ever wondered if you can actually purchase a fighter jet? Ever wished you could be the Top Gun of your family?

Well, wonder no more as we consider the practicalities of purchasing your fighter jet and if it is even possible. The answer may surprise you, but yes you can!

Whenever an airplane is demilitarized, it can be purchased by members of the general public.

What Are Demilitarized Aircraft?

As you might imagine, military equipment is owned by the state. These items, including tanks and planes, are controlled and can only be marketed according to strict rules. To avoid accidental injury and death, governments, hence, demilitarize their fighter jet before it could be sold to a private buyer.

This involves removing any components that might be used for a military function. To put it differently, they take all of the firearms, radar equipment, and some other key tech that would be harmful in the hands of a civilian or enemy nation.

In the US the demilitarization process is incredibly rigorous and involves slicing through parts of the aircraft to render it unfit to fly. This makes it exceptionally hard to get your hands on a usable “American” fighter jet. However, it can be done!

Other nations are not so brutal. For example, in the United Kingdom, demilitarization only involves removing weapons, radar systems, and categorized instruments. These planes can then be offered to private companies who run them as decoys to help military pilot training or to those who wish to maintain aviation history alive.

Foreign Military Aircraft Sales

To make some money, many nations sell their military aircraft to other countries without demilitarizing them. For many authorities, this is the chosen deployment method for additional aircraft.

These global sales help to strengthen relations between authorities and enable the seller to supply after-sales support for the aircraft. But this isn’t always the reason. Following the failure of the Soviet program, the Russians were enthusiastic about getting their hands on cash.

They started to sell their army arsenal in swathes. A whole lot of it went to China, so purchasing a Russian jet back then was among the simplest ways to get your fingers on a Soviet fighter plane. A fighter jet that would take you to what was called in the movie Top Gun the danger zone.

Before, the US also sold lots of their excess aircraft to buyers around the globe. Now, importing an exported aircraft is truly the only way that you may get your hands on an American fighter. Just about all the 1,000 independently owned military jets in the United States have been imported from other nations.

Once purchased, there’s the cost of transport (which the aircraft will need to be disassembled for), obligation, permits, and type ratings to take into account. This is all before you’ve even sat on the plane. As soon as you buckle up, there’s the continuing cost of gas, routine maintenance, and rare sourcing parts for repairs.

Do I Need Experience in Military Aircraft?

Not necessarily, but it will speed things up. Generally, you require a pilot’s permit and a standard rating for any plane you want to operate without a trainer. However, most ex-military aircraft fit the aircraft category and, as such, don’t have a particular type rating associated with them.

In this case, you want at least 1000 hours of flight time with 500 of the hours in precisely the identical class of aircraft. Considering that a private lesson within an L-39 is $2999 for 20 minutes (if not more), this is an insane amount of money for those who have not already got a few of those hours logged.

Interestingly enough, if you accumulate 1000 or more hours you get your fingers on a Russian fighter plane, and you’ll have 950 hours longer than the young Soviet pilots who initially flew them!

However, if you have been an Army pilot and have a degree in a supersonic turbojet-powered jet, you do not have to spend time building time and can simply hop right in.

Are Fighter Jets Difficult To Fly?

With a vast amount of power at your fingertips, flying fighter jets indeed has its challenges. When operating at speeds more than 450 mph, the margin for error is tiny. But when the pilot or passenger isn’t accustomed to flying at such rates, the experience can have some surprising consequences on their body and mind.

Discerning which way is up isn’t as simple as you may think, and with limited automation available, the pilot must both fly and navigate concurrently. But perhaps the most challenging part of flying a fighter jet is handling G-force.

It would be a waste of electricity if you had one of those beauties and didn’t get the most out of their aerobatic capabilities. But with this sort of flying comes the effect of increased gravity on the body through tight turns.

Planes such as MiGs and Sokos can resist 8gs, which is 8x the normal force of gravity. After an aircraft reaches 4gs and over, your body gets the zone in which it’s more likely to pass out. This is named G-LOC and is brought on by blood draining away in the mind.

What Military Aircraft Can You Buy On Today’s Market?

Here are 15 military aircraft you may find for sale today. The rates are approximated. Each one of the aircraft is in flyable condition!

1) 1951 Cessna L-19 305F Bird Dog

Price: $149,000

Want an almost inexpensive fighter jet? When the US Army was looking for a plane that could adjust artillery fire and perform liaison services, the Bird Dog was produced. It is a modified C170 and served throughout the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Now, or an incredible story about this airplane.

On April 29, 1975, the day before the fall of Saigon through the Vietnam War, Republic of Vietnam Air Force Major Buang-Ly with his spouse and kids inside a 2-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and flew off from Con Son Island. After dodging enemy ground fire, Major Buang-Ly headed out to sea and saw the aircraft carrier “Midway”. With just an hour of fuel left, he dropped a note requesting that the deck be cleared so he could land. Recognizing that there was no place for this to occur, Midway’s commanding officer, Captain Lawrence Chambers, mandated that $10 million value of South Vietnamese Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters to be pushed overboard to the South China Sea so that the Major could have sufficient room to land.

2) 1952 North American F86F Sabre

Price: $275,000

Image: smhusain1.com

The Sabre is best called the US first swept-wing plane, which could offset the Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights in the Korean War skies. From the end of hostilities, F-86 pilots were recognized with shooting down 792 MiGs to reduce just 78 Sabres in air-to-air combat, a success ratio of 10:1.

3) 1985 Aero L-39C Albatros

Price: $315,000

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-heeled jet trainer produced by Aero Vodochody in Czechoslovakia. These jets are relatively easy to find available worldwide, using a comparatively low cost and operating cost for the marketplace.

4) 1944 Grumman FM-2 Wildcat

Price: $1,225,000

Image: aircraft.com

With the highest speed of 318 miles, the Wildcat was beaten by the quicker 331 mph, more pliable, and higher-ranged Mitsubishi A6M Zero. The F4F’s ruggedness, coupled with strategies like the Thach Weave, led to a promised air battle kill-to-loss ratio of 5.9:1 in 1942 and 6.9:1 for the whole war.

The later-built FM-2 Wildcat was made to be more robust and light for use on aircraft carriers.

5) 1981 Dornier Alpha Jet

Price: $1,400,000

buy this used military fighter jet
Image: flickr.com

The Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and innovative jet trainer co-produced by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. Along with 15 international operators, the plane was used to train fighter pilots worldwide and even fulfilled its function as a ground-attack aircraft through a few smallish conflicts.

6) 1961 Douglas A-4D Skyhawk

Price: $1,600,000

military fighter jet
Image: primaryflightcontrol.com

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a subsonic single-seat carrier-capable attack jet manufactured for the US Navy and US Marine Corps in the early 1950s. It’s capable of carrying a bomb load equal to that of a World War II-era Boeing B-17 bomber and can deliver nuclear weapons with a low-altitude bombing system along with an “attic” delivery technique. Afterward, the Navy flew A-4s as part of the Blue Angels Demonstration Team.

7) 1944 North American P-51 Mustang

Price: $1,995,000

Image: fantasyofflight.com

You won’t meet a pilot out there that does not need to fly the iconic P-51 Mustang. It had been the allies’ solution to some long-range bomber escort and functioned well as both an air-to-ground platform and single-seat fighter. Mustangs were widely flown in the Korean War and WWII.

8) 1945 Supermarine Spitfire MKXVIII

Price: $2,119,845

Image: planesalesusa.com

The Spitfire was the sole British fighter built continuously during WWII and created as a short-range, high-performance interceptor jet. It served the allies as the ideal defense aircraft during the Battle of Britain. With just 60 flying models staying, this slick fighter captures the joys of audiences at each airshow.

9) 1981 AH-1 Cobra Transformed to Bell 209

Price: $2,173,496

Image: defaeroreport.com

The AH-1 was the US Army’s attack helicopter squadron fleet’s backbone, till later being superseded by the Apache. It was in action from 1967 to 2001, seeing combat in many conflicts around the world.

10) 1959 McDonnell Douglas Phantom F4H-1F

Price: $3,250,000

image: popularmechanics.com

The McDonnell Douglas is a big fighter with the highest speed of over Mach 2.2. It can load over 18,000 lbs of armaments on nine outer hardpoints, such as air-to-ground missiles, air-to-air missiles, and assorted explosives. The F-4 was utilized dramatically throughout the Vietnam Battle. It worked as the primary air supremacy fighter for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force became significant in the aerial surveillance and ground-attack functions late in the war.

11) 1942 Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero

Price: $3,300,000

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

The Zero was thought of as the most competent carrier-based fighter on the planet as it was launched early in World War II, blending excellent maneuverability and long variety.

12) 1951 Chance Vought F4U Corsair

Price: $3,450,000

Image: flyingbulls.at

The Corsair was developed and operated as a carrier-based aircraft and entered service in massive quantities with the US Navy in late 1944 and early 1945. It immediately became one of the very competent carrier-based bombers-fighter of World War II. Next flown in the Korean Battle, its 1942-1953 manufacture run was the highest of any US piston-engined plane.

13)  1990’s Sikorsky Black Hawk UH-60L

Price: $5,000,000

Image: military.wikia.org

The UH-60A started service with the US Army in 1979 to substitute the Bell UH-1 Huey as the Army’s tactical transport aircraft. This was succeeded by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variations of the Black Hawk. Hundreds are now operated by militaries around the world or in civilian functions as the”S-70.”

14) 1979 British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2

Price: $16,688,820

Image: flickr.com

This fighter jet is a short naval take-off and vertical take-off/vertical landing and landing plane fighter, surveillance, and attack aircraft. Unusual In an era where many naval and land-based air supremacy fighters were big and supersonic, the subsonic Sea Harrier’s principal function was to provide air defense for Royal Navy task groups based around the aircraft carriers.

15.) 1960’s Lockheed C-130E Hercules

Price: $15,000,000

Image: boldmethod.com

Want room for 2-3 Humvees, 92 Passengers, 74 litter patients with five medical crews, 64 airborne troops, six pallets, one CAESAR self-propelled howitzer, or two M113 armored personnel carriers? This C-130E is your solution! The C-130 Hercules is the longest continuously developed military aircraft at over 60 years.

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