Quote:
Originally Posted by castlebravo92
I don't think hypersonics do anything that other platforms don't already do..they might do it better/faster, but they certainly don't do it cheaper.
Drones / loitering munitions lowered the cost of "smart munitions" with a high PKILL from millions of dollars (Tomahawk ALCM) to tens of thousands of dollars (JDAM) to hundreds of dollars (for the really cheap ones) and have inverted the cost to countermeasure cost curve. For example, a hypersonic cruise missile probably isn't any cheaper than a PAC-2 Patriot. A current production run FIM-92 Stinger is a tad under $500,000 per missile/launcher unit. A Switchblade 300 (on the very high cost side of suicide drones) runs about $50,000 per unit. So, you are losing money shooting down a Switchblade 300 with a FIM-92, and you are losing a LOT of money shooting down a $500 DIY suicide drone that HAMAS or the Houthis are launching. The only real cost argument for shooting down $300 drones with $50,000 missiles is it's probably cheaper than losing whatever the drone is targeting.
US munitions production capacity has really taken a hit over the last 20 years though. It is a fair point on whether or not we have the relevant industrial capacity to sustain a high tempo war for very long.
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I do agree with you. Thats why it should be imperative to re-build the capacity of ammunition production.
And to the costs of shooting done drones: What if we use drones to shoot done drones?
If they attack with cheap drones: Two can play that game.
But using drones in this capacity would need a lot more computing power to control all of them.
I saw a trailer for a PC game: Ghost Recon Breakpoint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqj9aH3jLD0
Could we control such a drone swarm?