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But you can't handwave away the difference without understanding how it would affect the cost of your "cheap counter to the F-35." Do you know how much an AIM-1
by greedo 12y ago
But you can't handwave away the difference without understanding how it would affect the cost of your "cheap counter to the F-35." Do you know how much an AIM-120 costs? How much it weighs? How much reinforcement the wing structure of a drone would require to carry, launch and land with this weaponry?
- mikeyouse 12y ago> AIM-120 cost $300k - $400k > How much it weighs? 152 kg > How much reinforcement the wing structure of a drone would require to carry, launch and land with this weaponry? According to General Atomics; "With a 1,500 lb (680 kg) payload, its wings are 'more than sufficient' to mount larger air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles."
- greedo 12y agoThe last quote is for the Reaper, a new version of the Predator that costs 4x as much. $16m is much cheaper than a fighter jet, but when you start deploying them in swarms of 20:1 ratios, the numbers don't work.
- ceejayoz 12y agoYou're flailing around moving the goalposts at this point. The Predator/Reaper drones are more generalist platforms than you'd need for a disposable drone built around an air to air missile.
- branchan 12y agoYou cannot just blindly put missiles on a drone without any radars or sensors. The current Predator platform should be how much it would cost...minimum.