Amazon is considering using high capacity drones that would make its product deliveries more efficient. For this project, $$96,000$ would need to be spent right away to buy the required fleet of drones. The drones will be losing their economic value in equal amount each year, fully over their $4-$year economic lives. Once the drones' economic life is over, they would all be sold for $$7,700$ selling price to a new owner, and Amazon would then immediately purchase the same but brand$-$new drones for the same price as what it paid for the initial fleet of drones. When those drones' life is over, they would again be sold and, again, brand$-$new ones would be purchased $-$ all for the same prices as for the initial drones, and so on$,$ over and over.

Additional information:

Amazon expects $$8,800$ in annual operating costs.

All future cash flows are year$-$end cash flows.

Amazon pays $21$ percent tax rate on all taxable income.

Amazon requires an annual discount rate of $9$ percent, and the rate is not expected to change in the future.

The equivalent annual cost $($EAC$)$ of the drones equals $\_\_\_\_\_.$