I think they’re referring to the cheap drones that Ukraine and Russia have been using. They’re very simple and can’t carry much of a payload, but they’re incredibly inexpensive and easy to produce.
Even the cheap wedding drones that were converted at the start by Ukraine were in the $400 range. Now the cheapest quadcopters they’re using are $1000 on the low end, with the ones Russia is using have a low end $35,000 price tag.
Still ridiculously cost effective compared to a Patriot Missile.
The Ukrainians and houthis are having successful attacks with consumer drones that have hand grenades or ieds taped to them. You don’t need a “military grade” drone to fly an explosive where it shouldn’t be
I’m not saying they replace Patriot missiles, obviously that’s not the case. I’m just saying you can cause a lot of damage with a $100 dollar drone and some c4, pretty similar damage to a $400,000 missile. The missiles aren’t really showing their cost-impact ratios to be good if what the Russians are spending on Ukraine is to be taken as evidence
Don’t forget scouting. Giving soldiers in the field the ability to poke one over a hill can be useful. A $25 FPV drone off Amazon can do that job if that’s all you can afford.
Not that you’d use a Patriot against that, either.
4 000 000 a missile, 100 000x times more expensive than a military drone? what military drone costs $40?
I don’t know what models are in use today, but a Bayraktar TB2 costs 4 million.
I think they’re referring to the cheap drones that Ukraine and Russia have been using. They’re very simple and can’t carry much of a payload, but they’re incredibly inexpensive and easy to produce.
Even the cheap wedding drones that were converted at the start by Ukraine were in the $400 range. Now the cheapest quadcopters they’re using are $1000 on the low end, with the ones Russia is using have a low end $35,000 price tag. Still ridiculously cost effective compared to a Patriot Missile.
Yeah but the use case of patriot missiles is not shooting down rc quadcopters so this whole line of argumentation is just kinda useless
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/19/missile-drone-pentagon-houthi-attacks-iran-00132480?utm_campaign=dfn-ebb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sailthru&SToverlay=2002c2d9-c344-4bbb-8610-e5794efcfa7d
It’s already happening in the world.
The Ukrainians and houthis are having successful attacks with consumer drones that have hand grenades or ieds taped to them. You don’t need a “military grade” drone to fly an explosive where it shouldn’t be
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A block of c4 is as easily taped to a drone as a grenade and that will take out the targets you mentioned.
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I’m not saying they replace Patriot missiles, obviously that’s not the case. I’m just saying you can cause a lot of damage with a $100 dollar drone and some c4, pretty similar damage to a $400,000 missile. The missiles aren’t really showing their cost-impact ratios to be good if what the Russians are spending on Ukraine is to be taken as evidence
Don’t forget scouting. Giving soldiers in the field the ability to poke one over a hill can be useful. A $25 FPV drone off Amazon can do that job if that’s all you can afford.
Not that you’d use a Patriot against that, either.
now that’s a multiple meaning I can get behind. soft, pudgy, vodka filled targets.
Both Russia and Ukraine are heavily reliant on consumer drones from the likes of DJI. Those run in the 1000-4000 dollar range.