• dragontamer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago
    1. Because missiles cost $1+ million each.

    2. 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

    3. 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.

    4. Because bullets are extremely cheap. Artillery shells, such as the 155m are famously like ~$500

    5. 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).