I think that you'll find that the RN didn't quote anything: Treasury came up with an amortised figure of £41,588 in answer to a question in Parliament
However, according to the Defence Aircraft Capitation Rates the operating cost for just the machine is £3,162 per funded flying hour; made up of fuel and servicing costs. A Sea King is £3,183 per flying hour, so much for the doomsayers flapping on about the Merlin
The same document, however, then adds on the ancilliary costs to each aircraft, eg aircrew, Unit admin, amortisation, Agusta storage costs for spare parts for a minimum of six months after servicing requests, and the cast of thousands in the MoD, and with amazing accuracy comes up with £41,588 for the Merlin, and £16,723 for the SK5/7.
Figures lie, and liars figure
