I read somewhere that a single Phalanx CIWS bullet cost more than a drone that could take the entire system out before the heavy drones/cruise missiles were sent.
In 2030: Sure the USN lost a multibillion dollar carrier to a swarm of DJIs with explosives duct taped to them, but damn did the CIWS tracers look cool for the first couple minutes before everything blew up, and isn't that money well spent?
I read somewhere that a single Phalanx CIWS bullet cost more than a drone that could take the entire system out before the heavy drones/cruise missiles were sent.
Single 20mm bullet used in Phalanx costs something like 30-35 bucks, and a single salvo is usually 100 bullets.
"It costs 400 thousand dollars to fire this weapon... for 12 seconds."
Bulk discount on a $150 Chinese drone, I can see it.
In 2030: Sure the USN lost a multibillion dollar carrier to a swarm of DJIs with explosives duct taped to them, but damn did the CIWS tracers look cool for the first couple minutes before everything blew up, and isn't that money well spent?
Even if you used something expensive, such as military drones, it's still an order of magnitude less than Phalanx, to say nothing about the millions of dollars for missiles to shoot them down.