Something else needs to be put up in its place, and that counts as replacement cost.
In that cast, the F-22, at a unit cost of $150M (2009 USD), but replacing the F-15's of a ratio 5.45:1 (Approximately 1020 F-15's of various models purchased versus 187 F-22's) giving an individual replacement cost of.. Approximately $27.5M (2009 USD), which is less than the original purchase cost of $28-30M (1998 USD) or, adjusted for inflation, $36.7-39.3M (2009 USD).
So that mechanical failure was worth $27.5M going by it's replacement cost.
I still think that probably isn't wholly accurate though as the plane was utilized through out it's useful life span, rather than being lost prematurely before a full return on the original investment that was the manufacturing costs (such as the F-22 that was lost in Alaska only a year or two after rolling off the assembly line). Also it's replacement was created before the aircraft's loss or decommissioning (the F-22's), so the $27.5M individual replacement cost also doesn't really count as it was going to be spent/has already been spent regardless of the final disposition of this F-15.
*shrug* Anyone wanna tally the numbers for what it cost to go pick the crew up, properly "thanking" the rebels (hey, I'm not above monetary reward if a semi-friendly faction rescues and returns our people for us), and any modern ordnance the bird was carrying that was lost?
