Why does the US Navy spend millions on jet displays?

The collision of two U.S. Navy jets at an air show in Idaho last weekend raises questions about why the Pentagon risks multimillion-dollar warplanes - and their crews - for entertainment purposes.

"These questions are almost always part of the noise surrounding an accident," said John Venable, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot.

The accident on Sunday (17), during the Gunfighter Skies Air Show at Mountain Home Air Force Base involved two Navy EA-18 Growlers, an electronic warfare aircraft based on the F/A-18 fighter platform.

The jets were assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 129, of Whidbey Island, Washington, and were crewed by members of the Growler Airshow Team, according to a Navy statement.

After the two jets collided in the air, the four crew members ejected successfully, with only one requiring hospital treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the statement.

In May, rescue crews responded to a crash during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. An announcer informed the audience that the four Navy pilots were found - Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
The Growlers cost about US$68 million (approximately R$340 million) each, according to a 2021 Navy fact sheet, but replacement costs would be much higher. Production of the EA-18 jets has ended, although Boeing still has F/A-18s under construction.

Operating costs for F/A-18 family jets are around US$20,000 (approximately R$100,000) per hour, according to a 2022 Boeing press release.

So why spend that amount of money risking multi-million dollar equipment and the lives of highly skilled crew members simply to entertain the public?

Flight Team Budgets
The Growler Airshow Team is just a small part of the U.S. Military's suite of demonstration teams that perform daring maneuvers at air shows throughout the year.

The best known are the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds, who have been the main attraction of dozens of events every year for decades, flying in their characteristic liveries.

Each team's annual budgets are not publicly released, and the Pentagon did not provide figures after multiple requests from CNN.

But according to a 2012 cost-benefit analysis by three Navy officers who attended the service's graduate school in California, the Blue Angels' budget was approximately $98.6 million. This amount covered personnel, travel expenses, aircraft and equipment maintenance, as well as operational and support costs.

Congress, in 2024, required the Pentagon to conduct a new cost-benefit study, but, to date, the Armed Forces have not released any public data.

The 2012 study found an extreme imbalance in the cost-benefit ratio of the Navy's Blue Angels team.

With more than $98 million spent on the Blue Angels in one year, the Navy realized less than $1 million in recruiting benefits, representing a negative 99 percent return on investment, officials concluded.

If we consider "goodwill" - things like the economic benefit of air show spending to surrounding communities - the cost-benefit ratio decreases considerably, but still resulted in a negative return on investment of 41%, the study found.

"The costs outweigh the benefits," the study stated.

U.S. Navy Boeing EA-18G Growler aircraft taxiing at José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, on December 17, 2025, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico - Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
The tens of millions spent by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds represent, however, only a portion of the Pentagon's community outreach.

John Venable, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, said the two teams combined can only cover about 70 of the 325 to 350 air shows held in North America each year.

That's where demonstration units like the Growler team come in.

"Both the Air Force and Navy place a high value on smaller sites that can't accommodate a large team of jets, which is why teams like the EA-18G Growler Demonstration Team exist," said Venable.

"The services have created small demonstration teams that, when called upon, can serve these communities" that would not otherwise have the opportunity to see military flights, he added.

Although the Thunderbirds were on the program for the Mountain Home show, the military sometimes adds smaller demonstration teams like the Growlers if the schedule permits, Venable concluded.

The dangers of air shows
Whether it's full-time demonstration teams or smaller teams like the Growlers, flying in air shows involves risk. Aircraft fly close to each other - called formation flying - and close to the ground as they travel at hundreds of kilometers per hour.

Fatal accidents have occurred, including the infamous 1982 "Diamond Crash" in Arizona, when four Thunderbirds pilots died during a training flight while rehearsing for the upcoming show season.

In 1994, a B-52 bomber crashed during a training flight for an air show in Washington state.

An investigation concluded that the pilot attempted dangerous maneuvers unsuitable for an eight-engine bomber.

More recently, an Air Force major died during a training session in 2018, and in 2016, a Blue Angels pilot died in a crash before a concert in Tennessee.

Despite the dangers and numbers presented in the 2012 study, Venable said the military considers demonstrations worth the risk.

"Most (people) fail to see or greatly underestimate the benefits to public relations and recruiting, but both are considerable," Venable said.

Air shows can attract tens or even hundreds of thousands of spectators over a weekend. This can provide "connective tissue" between the community and the military, as well as recognition for the work the military does, he explained.

"The true purpose of a military air show is to give people a sense of the precision and professionalism of the military to people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to see them, and, in a special few, to awaken a desire to serve," Venable added.

Crewmen parachute toward the ground, left, after a collision between two U.S. Navy aircraft during an air display at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Sunday, May 17, 2026, near Mountain Home, Idaho - Henk Zuurbier/AP via CNN Newsource

Source: CNN