I don’t know about current man-hour rates, perhaps a little perspective is in order. In a former life I flew SH-2F’s, we had older H-2’s, in fact one had a BUNO beginning in 139. Our average was in the 40-50 man hour range, they were old and tired and required significant maintenance. H-53’s during that time had similar numbers even though they were considerably bigger. As an aside, there was a saying in Marine H-46 squadrons that when you add 4 H-53’s for a cruise you double your maintenance. The idea with new aircraft is to get lower cost of ownership with a lower man hour rate. If this is true of the F-22, that is not good.
I had the privilege and opportunity to spend several hours with a recently retired Air Force pilot. He had 28 years in (USMC, Air Force and ANG) and retired in protest over the recent homosexuality issues in the military.
When I visited him, he had on his wall about every plaque and certificate you could imagine that could be bestowed on a fighter pilot. Top Gun school, you name it. He had extensive combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said had flown everything in the inventory from A-4 Skyhawks to the F-15 (Mostly F-18 and F-16) but not the F-22.
When I asked him if he had ever flown against F-22's, and if so, what was it like, he looked at me and said:
"Flying against the F-22 was like being a baby seal."
This guy was, from all accounts, Sierra Hotel as a fighter pilot, and he said that not only was it not even close to being close, but "Any pilot not flying an F-22 who tells you he waxed an F-22 is simply full of crap."