Is it legal to own a disarmed fighter jet? Would there be any hoops to jump through?

It is legal to own a disarmed military jet that is not longer in active service. In a few countries you can purchase a military jet that is still in active service such as the MIG-29. Hoops?? Oh yeah. Having the aircraft shipped or flown to your location is the biggie. First if you ever intend to actually fly it the aircraft there is the registration and certification process. If you are a multimillionaire, (and you will have to be) the whole expensive process will be a lot easier. You can purchase a jet aircraft for as little as $10,000 or $20,000(US), but it is sort of like buying a used car. What shape is it in? How many flying hours? Similar questions you might ask when purchasing an expensive used car. (oops!! guess I should have said "pre-owned") A nice hobby for very rich people. On the website below is a list of military aircraft available for purchase some with prices. They range from around $10,000 to a couple of million.

Certainly. There are privately owned Migs - up to at least the MIG 21, and they are not that expensive to purchase. A used Mig may cost less than some loaded new Cessna's! Operating and maintaining them requires deep pockets. Not many shops can do an annual inspection on a Mig 21 - and even fewer have parts for them.

There are a few older western fighter jets in private hands, mainly from the 50's : F80's, F86's, Vampires. While its legal for you to own a later model, the government no longer sells "disarmed" fighters as surplus. Now they require that surplus aircraft be cut into pieces before being sold as scrap. Even newer aircraft in civilian museums are still owned by the military, and are only on loan.

There have been only a handful of later fighters in private hands - one F104 was rebuilt from parts, and there have been rumors of an F4 in the process of being restored. If you want one, you have to find the parts and build one.

Contrary to what some others posted, yes it is legal to own a fighter jet in the US and operate it. There are no restrictions from "home base".(Where does this come from?) If you can get them to sell you one is the issue. There are a few F4 Phantoms, an F104 Starfighter, T33's, a Harrier jump jet and two MiG 29's, Mig 17, Mig 21 all operating in the US right now. They are expensive, very expensive to fly and maintain. The Harrier costs $30k to fly in an air show and that is for around 20 minutes plus fuel. The chances of purchasing an F22? Probably zero. Too much technology to let out into the public domain.

Yes, it is perfectly legal, provided that you can afford it. I read an article years ago in Popular Mechanics about a bunch of different people who own retired fighter jets and fly them in shows and things. As for hoops to jump through, I don't know if there are special restrictions for privately owned fighter planes because of their speed or anything like that. An FAA official would probably be the person to ask about that.

Yes it is legal. As pointed out by most the big hurdle here is the cash to buy it and finding somebody qualified to do the annual.

Canada has just started selling of some old F18A's and the first one was delivered to her new owner ( a private owner at that, not a museum etc) last month.

You can also buy almost anything from the Russians.

PS: There is currently an ex blue angel F18 for sale on Ebay if you have the cash and a re a US citizen.

Money is the main hoop. Money to buy it, money to run it, and money to maintain it. These planes were not designed to be low-maintenance, nor were they designed to be economical to fly. The military rarely care about such things.

There are lots of privately owned F-86s and MiG-21s. There are a handful of others. If you can afford to even gas up an F-104, more power to you.

The newest privately-owned fighter I've heard of is the surplus F-14 the producers of JAG bought to use as a prop.

Since armament and ammunition is heavy, disarmed fighters are often much lighter than their wartime equivalents. They must be carefully rebalanced, and will be much livelier to fly. You will need suitable ratings (high performance, complex aircraft, etc.) to be able to fly your new toy.

Yes, it is. And Viola's right, money is the biggest hurdle.

If you intended to fly it, there would be FAA registration, airworthiness inspections, etc. If you're importing it from a another country, a whole other set of Customs regulations apply.

Trivia: The MiG-23 that used to be on display (it may still be there) at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum was sold to a private individual in the early 90's by a Russian general who needed to pay his troops. The aircraft was seized by U.S. Customs when the individual tried to bring it in to Florida. Customs later gave it to the museum.

Sure. The Russians will sell you a MiG-21 for 100 Gs. Have fun maintaining it and contacting the Russian Government about it...That'll be expensive...But no. No hoops.

I don't know about fighter types, but I've seen advertisments in the Aero Trader And Chopper Shopper magazine for old flight trainer jets.

where you gonna get it/usa government wont sell privately/cant see you bringing in a mirage or a mig 21/other goverments want those sooooooooooooooooo?