TIL That each missile fired by Israels Iron Dome cost anywhere between 40k to 50k US per missile
TIL That each missile fired by Israels Iron Dome cost anywhere between 40k to 50k US per missile
The highly sophisticated, multibillion-dollar defense system has been under constant redevelopment since its inception in the early 2000s. Here's how it works.
TBH, I think the Israel iron dome system is justified. Bombing Palestinians is not.
One is defensive and one is a genocide over land. Not really a hard choice for sane people.
It could be argued that Israel is free to unleash their campaign of genocide because the people in Israel do not experience the horrors themselves. There is no pressure to reach an agreement. Bringing the hostages back has been the only rallying cry by Israelis, but other than that, actually ending the genocide doesn't have much support.
It's similar to how so many consumer goods are produced through the use of slavery. That distance and lack of visibility mean there is little pressure from consumers to stop those practices.
There is zero justification for a colonial apartheid ethnostate. Over seventy years of crimes against humanity are not worth defending.
you say there is no justification for a colonial apartheid ethnosate, but if that were true, why "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for our children"
the scary thing is people who would otherwise be against fascism for some strange reason turn off their 1488 detectors when talking about the Nation state of Israel, and will gladly embrace the concept of the ethnostate as a moral good.
I think it's a bit more complicated than that. It's a messed up country, but it's in an extremely messed up part of the world. All of their neighbors are nondemocratic ethnostates, and not even the apartheid kind, they've completely driven Jewish people out of their countries. I don't think standing by and letting Isreal get overrun would be beneficial for the world. I don't support their offensive military actions but that doesn't mean I want to see what happens when Hamas/Hezbollah takes over their country.
How about just starving them? Much cheaper!
That's actually a very low price for an anti-air missile. For comparison, the Stinger shoulder-fired missile costs more than twice as much. A Patriot missile costs four million dollars (but is much more capable). Presumably minimizing cost was a high priority when this missile was designed. Nonetheless, the cost asymmetry is one reason why degrading the ability of Hamas and Hezbollah to fire missiles at Israel is important.
Absolutely. In the late '80s I was part of an anti-tank guided missile evaluation; each rocket cost around $70k then, so around $185k per today.
Hamas and Hezbollah are firing any tubes filled with any propellant they can find. you want to reduce the capabilities of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah? don't fucking go around running an apartheid ethnostate and annexing land on the basis of blood and soil.
Also, depends on what version and flavor of PAC it is
It's expensive AF to operate which is why Israel has been working hard on "Iron Beam", which uses lasers instead of missiles, to supplement it and reduce the cost of operation. Iron Beam is supposed to become active in 2025.
Ukraine doesn't have Iron Dome because of cost and scale. Israel is 22,145 square kilometers while Ukraine is 603,628 square kilometers. It probably cost 10 Billion to build an Israel sized Iron Dome so a Ukraine sized one would cost upwards of $300 Billion and operating the thing would like be a billion dollars a month for active combat.
As an aside the United States also has ground based directed energy weapons. There's even a 50KW mobile version built on the Stryker platform called DE M-SHORAD. 100KW+ versions are supposed to be rolling out next year.
I hate war and all of that, but shooting missiles with Lasers sounds really fucking cool
Iron Beam sounds like the Temu version of Iron Dome
That doesn’t sound like an unreasonable price for a missile interceptor; those things have to be fast and precise. If anything, it looks like they have reasonable economies of scale going for them.
TIL Each missile fired by Israel cost $15k to build and the US taxpayer paid 40-50k for them to line the pockets of a few billionaires
Sorted that title for you
I here I initially only had an issue with the phrasing "Each missile [...] per missile".
We can haz better healthcare and less income inequality?
Look! A communist! Get em!
🔱😡🔥
Each missile per missile? Dang.
Meanwhile they're not even supplying Gaza with Iron Dome to protect civilians from the ongoing genocide...smh
If you don't mind me ask what does smh mean?
I usually take SMH as them saying they're nodding in disapproval or judgment. It's kind of like how a wise adult would see two immature kids having a disagreement over something insignificant and easy to resolve, but their egos get in the way. The adult would nod and perhaps sigh or say, "tsk, tsk," to themselves. Anyone else see it this way or differently?
Ugh, that title.
The system can be overwhelmed by having too many incoming rockets, so it does have its limits.
Hope it bankrupts them.
Why would it? The US is paying for it.
The US? Cause that’s who’s paying.
It essentially prevented a full scale armed conflict like this past year from 2011-2023. How many lives has it saved over that 12 years?
The lives they kill are worth so much more so its worth it to them?
How do they justify stuff like this.
“We think these people are worthless and we want their land. So now we spend big capital destroying that land”
Not a single rhetoric i can make up with makes even evil sense.
What is their left to gain after all the costs?