Comment on Killer drones pioneered in Ukraine are the weapons of the future
tal@lemmy.today 8 months agoI don’t know if that’s true or not – at least some of them definitely do, but maybe some don’t – but those capabilities are cheap enough that they can afford to have them there if it’s what it takes to make the drone work in the presence of electronic warfare. A dumb artillery shell in the US is, from what I can dig up, about $800. The DJI drones are rather cheaper than that.
To put it another way:
faac.com/…/killer-instinct-how-many-soldiers-actu…
During World War II it was estimated that 45,000 rounds of small arms ammunition was fired to kill one enemy soldier. In Vietnam the American military establishment consumed an estimated 50,000 rounds of ammunition for every enemy killed.
thegunzone.com/how-much-does-5-56-nato-ammo-cost/
On average, the price of 5.56 NATO ammo ranges from $0.40 to $1.00 per round.
By comparison, the drone is probably pretty cost-effective. If having a GPS chip is important to make it usable, cost isn’t going to be a barrier.
eleitl@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Dumb artillery shells are more 6000-8000 usd in the West.
tal@lemmy.today 8 months ago
googles
twitter.com/…/1580582881767718913?lang=en
eleitl@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
That’s what it costs in Russia and North Korea. In the EU the costs are as I cited. And there are no production capacities at the volume required. China stopped exporting the specific type of cotton used for cordite production. Nitric acid is expensive and hard to get.
You can print billions of banknotes easily. You cant do that with millions of shells.
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
russia and nk uses 152mm, not 155mm
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
GLSDB is cheaper than regular GMLRS rocket. ramjet 155mm is prototype. there’s another obscure 155mm ammunition called vulcano that basically packs smaller HE sabot round in 155mm, trading off payload for range, ramjet takes it even further
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
not when there’s a shortage