The
U.S. Air Force has announced that it is ordering AMRAAM missiles worth $1.15
billion from Raytheon Missiles and Defense to supply to Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Defense reported on June 20.
I kind of don’t even understand how, in the age of missles, we still have tanks and soldiers at all. I guess I don’t understand how missles work. My assumption is that they’re able to just erase anything that is in a spot you indicate in some kind of Google maps interface. If they’re not that smart, I don’t understand why not. How do armies still march and drive around in tanks when the enemy can just push a button on their phone and cause explosions where they are?
Because anti-air deletes missiles. Also you can’t hold territory with just missiles. You need land presence, and for that you need soldiers. And since soldiers are more useful alive than dead, we built thick metal boxes that can roll around the battlefield so they can be protected while being transported to important locations. The metal boxes themselves also have big ass cannons attached that will utterly destroy any other vehicle or building an enemy might be using as cover. These are just some of the reasons soldiers and tanks are still used.
the missile is coming and radar computer guy sees it and does some calculus to figure out where the missile will be in X minutes and then tells another computer to shoot a missile at where the first missile will be in X minutes. and this second missile (the anti air missile) is specially designed to sort of shotgun a bunch of metal at the first missile to make sure it gets the hit. yep.
Because long-range missiles flying at 500mph will take 3 or 4 minutes to hit their target. The target can move, hide, or otherwise escape the missile
Because bullets near instantly hit their target (within 5 seconds) in battlefield conditions. Tanks in particular fire hypersonic 3000mph shells, you’re dead in 2 seconds (at 3000m range), though the soundwave hits you at the 10-second mark.
Because bullets are extremely cheap. Artillery shells, such as the 155m are famously like ~$500
Tank shells are likely under $2000 IIRC. So you can fire lots of tank-bullet for the same price as missile. More accurately (due to speed an information). And firepower: 40 shots of a tank can affect a battlefield more immediately than a missile. A tank can fire and near instantly kill targets it can see out to 3km ranges (~2 second travel time). A missile or rocket taking 60, 90, 120+ seconds to reach long-range targets just cannot affect the battlefield in the same manner.> How do armies still march and drive around in tanks when the enemy can just push a button on their phone and cause explosions where they are?
How do armies still march and drive around in tanks when the enemy can just push a button on their phone and cause explosions where they are?
Because missiles take a long time to fly. Even at modest 50km ranges, you ain’t affecting the battlefield in time (~500mph missile will take over 3 minutes to reach 50km).
I kind of don’t even understand how, in the age of missles, we still have tanks and soldiers at all. I guess I don’t understand how missles work. My assumption is that they’re able to just erase anything that is in a spot you indicate in some kind of Google maps interface. If they’re not that smart, I don’t understand why not. How do armies still march and drive around in tanks when the enemy can just push a button on their phone and cause explosions where they are?
Because anti-air deletes missiles. Also you can’t hold territory with just missiles. You need land presence, and for that you need soldiers. And since soldiers are more useful alive than dead, we built thick metal boxes that can roll around the battlefield so they can be protected while being transported to important locations. The metal boxes themselves also have big ass cannons attached that will utterly destroy any other vehicle or building an enemy might be using as cover. These are just some of the reasons soldiers and tanks are still used.
How does anti-air work? Just fill the sky with flak? How do you know when and where the missle will be? Just radar?
the missile is coming and radar computer guy sees it and does some calculus to figure out where the missile will be in X minutes and then tells another computer to shoot a missile at where the first missile will be in X minutes. and this second missile (the anti air missile) is specially designed to sort of shotgun a bunch of metal at the first missile to make sure it gets the hit. yep.
Patriot directly hits enemy missiles actually. Its more impressive than you might think.
Because missiles cost $1+ million each.
Because long-range missiles flying at 500mph will take 3 or 4 minutes to hit their target. The target can move, hide, or otherwise escape the missile
Because bullets near instantly hit their target (within 5 seconds) in battlefield conditions. Tanks in particular fire hypersonic 3000mph shells, you’re dead in 2 seconds (at 3000m range), though the soundwave hits you at the 10-second mark.
Because bullets are extremely cheap. Artillery shells, such as the 155m are famously like ~$500
Tank shells are likely under $2000 IIRC. So you can fire lots of tank-bullet for the same price as missile. More accurately (due to speed an information). And firepower: 40 shots of a tank can affect a battlefield more immediately than a missile. A tank can fire and near instantly kill targets it can see out to 3km ranges (~2 second travel time). A missile or rocket taking 60, 90, 120+ seconds to reach long-range targets just cannot affect the battlefield in the same manner.> How do armies still march and drive around in tanks when the enemy can just push a button on their phone and cause explosions where they are?
Because missiles take a long time to fly. Even at modest 50km ranges, you ain’t affecting the battlefield in time (~500mph missile will take over 3 minutes to reach 50km).