4 ms·

Manufacturing is an awful lot more than “cobbling together” a cad file. Cruise missiles need some pretty complex components to be made with specialized tooling,

Manufacturing is an awful lot more than “cobbling together” a cad file. Cruise missiles need some pretty complex components to be made with specialized tooling, none of which are going to last long with Saudi Arabia bombing the fuck out of them on a regular basis.

razster 7y ago
Additive manufacturing has come a long ways. Still would take some complex electronics, but I’m sure there is a way.
CapricornNoble 7y ago
The Houthis managed to retrofit an air-to-air missile into a truck-launched surface-to-air missile in order to damage an F-15. [1] Their ability to hack hardware might surprise you. I honestly dunno how they are pulling it off either. [1]https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houthi-rebels-yemen-used-modified-air-air-missiles-attack-planes-ground https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houth...
- mr_overalls 7y ago
  The missile in question - the Vympel R-27 - is a Soviet design. Just spitballing here, but how likely is it that the Houthis have covert Russian technical help? Russia's political alignments in the ME (and domestic oil production) certainly mean that it benefits from attacks on Saudi oil & stability.
  - sangnoir 7y ago
    Why do you assume they need help?
    - mr_overalls 7y ago
      It's my own bias, but I don't readily think of Yemen as having the kind of highly-skilled military/technical personnel needed to perform such a task.
SiempreViernes 7y ago
You overestimate the value of randomly blowing up things from far away, the Saudis has been doing that since 2015 and obviously haven't managed to win. Clearly whatever intel gathering they have isn't likely to shut down a distributed manufacturing operation.
- SergeAx 7y ago
  > the Saudis has been doing that > since 2015 and obviously > haven't managed to win. There's a factor of value-to-loose. Blowing up a fisherman's hut is one thing, and completely another is the case of oil refinery.
  - humble_engineer 7y ago
    You're a bigot
jacquesm 7y ago
Mashups are easy once you have the parts. It's making the parts that is hard. So repurposing stuff is the shortcut to get around the fact that you have no manufacturing capability.

razster 7y ago

Additive manufacturing has come a long ways. Still would take some complex electronics, but I’m sure there is a way.

CapricornNoble 7y ago

The Houthis managed to retrofit an air-to-air missile into a truck-launched surface-to-air missile in order to damage an F-15. [1] Their ability to hack hardware might surprise you. I honestly dunno how they are pulling it off either. [1]https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houthi-rebels-yemen-used-modified-air-air-missiles-attack-planes-ground https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/now-we-know-how-houth...

mr_overalls 7y ago
The missile in question - the Vympel R-27 - is a Soviet design. Just spitballing here, but how likely is it that the Houthis have covert Russian technical help? Russia's political alignments in the ME (and domestic oil production) certainly mean that it benefits from attacks on Saudi oil & stability.
- sangnoir 7y ago
  Why do you assume they need help?
  - mr_overalls 7y ago
    It's my own bias, but I don't readily think of Yemen as having the kind of highly-skilled military/technical personnel needed to perform such a task.

SiempreViernes 7y ago

You overestimate the value of randomly blowing up things from far away, the Saudis has been doing that since 2015 and obviously haven't managed to win. Clearly whatever intel gathering they have isn't likely to shut down a distributed manufacturing operation.

SergeAx 7y ago
> the Saudis has been doing that > since 2015 and obviously > haven't managed to win. There's a factor of value-to-loose. Blowing up a fisherman's hut is one thing, and completely another is the case of oil refinery.
- humble_engineer 7y ago
  You're a bigot

jacquesm 7y ago

Mashups are easy once you have the parts. It's making the parts that is hard. So repurposing stuff is the shortcut to get around the fact that you have no manufacturing capability.