These Are the Most Expensive Military Vehicles Ever Made

When you think about the military you probably think of death and destruction and wars and loved ones being taken away from you.

Although these are, in fact, the most important things to think about, there are other things that might escape your train of though.

We’re talking about the amount of money that goes into preparing for war.

While the price people pay for guns is gigantic, there are other things that are way more expensive, like planes for example.

According to therichest.com, these machines are draw-dropping feats of engineering and design.

Awesome machines carefully crafted and planned out for years before being expertly constructed.

They are also terrifying. They can bring about massive destruction and catastrophe.

They are super expensive embodiments of paradox; high-tech machines of war designed to ensure peace.

While we all hope they are never needed to fire shots in anger, these military vehicles are undoubtedly amazing. Think back on the great military innovations of the past.

The Greeks defeated the Persians with the phalanx, a formation of soldiers with spears.

The Mongols conquered much of the known-world with horses and bows.

A mere 200 years ago, the British Empire was the dominant superpower thanks to rifled muskets and wooden ships.

How the minds of military masters of the past would boggle upon setting eyes on today’s cutting edge military technology.

Writer Arthur C. Clarke’s oft-repeated maxim, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” is no truer than when examining how far our military technological capability has advanced.

Perhaps it reflects poorly on us humans that warfare is often the most effective driver of advancement and technology.

But many would argue that it is because of our constant innovation of our military capability that we still have peace.

As worrisome a time as the Cold War was, perhaps the thought of Mutually Assured Destruction –that neither the U.S. nor the U.S.S.R. could afford to strike the other for both had the ability to utterly destroy the other– actually prevented war.

In any event, whether you’re a hawk or a dove, these machines are truly amazing and they are the most expensive military vehicles ever:

Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey – $72.1 million
F-35 Lightning II – Around $100 million
Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor – $150 million
Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye
Arleigh Burke DDG 51 Destroyer – $1.843 billion
INS Vikramaditya – $2.35 billion
Varyag/Liaoning Aircraft Carrier – $2.4 billion
Virginia Class Submarine – $2.688 billion
USS America (LHA-6) – $3.4 billion
Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier- $4 billion
HMS Astute – $5.5 billion
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) – $6.2 billion
DDG 1000 Zumwalt-Class Destroyer – $7.5 billion
HMS Queen Elizabeth – $9.3 billion
USS Gerald R. Ford – $12.8 billion