Cost of missiles dwarfs cheap Russian drones
Incursions by cheap Russian drones over NATO territory – shot down by Dutch F-35 fighter jets in Poland using expensive AIM-9X missiles – show the bloc must learn from Ukraine’s drone combat experience
GERBERA MULTI-PURPOSE DRONE
Developed by China’s Skywalker Technology according to Ukrainian intelligence
Motor / wooden propeller
Polystyrene foam
Plywood
Cavity: Up to 10kg of explosives
Navigation and control systems, batteries, 4G modem and SIM card
Polish and Lithuanian SIM cards found in drones in July, presaging operations over those countries
Speed:
185km/h
Range:
600km
2.0m
2.5m
Cost of Iranian-built Shaheed drone (export version) up to $80,000
Designed to overwhelm air defences
Ukraine combats drones with machine guns, helicopters and interceptor drones
Cost per unit $10,000 approx
AIM-9X SIDEWINDER
Supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile
Contractor: Raytheon
3.0m
Infrared system guidance allows missile to home in on targets by day or night
Active optical target detector
Annular blast fragmentation warhead
Solid fuel rocket motor
Speed:
Mach 2.5
Range:
20km
Cost per unit $400,000 approx
Sources: BBC, Technology.org
Picture: Ukraine Government
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