[Goose]

Of course the "cost" of an S-300 missile may be 140k but since they aren't being made anymore by Ukraine at least, they are probably worth much much more than that. The relative dollar cost is not really so much the issue when we compare drones vs interceptors. The US and the west broadly has a much healthier economic base to afford these things, it's more a question of manufacturing capacity and political will.

While I agree that manufacturing capacity and will are key, these things are not independent of cost. Many Americans may be quite willing to give Ukraine a lot of things, but if they are shooting 48 million dollars a day worth of missiles it is going to add up fast, like 1.4 billion a month. No danger of that though because we haven't given them enough missiles to do that. The capacity to produce issue is also tied to money. These missiles require skilled labor and complex support equipment to build, and increasing production requires more of both. The workers have to be trained and the equipment has to be procured and manufactured. This is neither cheap nor fast. These things all cost money, and getting that money will inevitably affect the "will" of many politicians.

The Iranian drones may only cost 20k to produce (wonder where that number even comes from, does Shahed Industries have a catalog?), but there is some upper limit on Iranian/Russian procurement of necessary components and manufacturing throughput. Since these drones have many Western components, it may be hard to really ramp up production.

The 20K cost of production is an estimate based on the components found in the drones that have been shot down and the known labor costs in Iran. We also kind of know that Russia is paying about 36K each for the drones, so that is a "reasonable" mark-up for Iran. These drones don't require particularly skilled labor to build and there are plenty of Iranians who would want the work and have the skills. The components like engines, warhead and fuselage materials are readily available in Iran, as either domestic manufacture or "dual use" materials that are easily imported. They already have "ramped up" production and have the capacity to continue to do so.

It is wise to consider that every drone Iran has built so far has been built with the "full Monty" of sanctions in place for quite a few years. They are already very skilled in getting electronic components into their country. This is partially because many other nations do not view Iran as a "pariah state" and trade with them without many safeguards. Get the chips into these countries and it is "no problem" the rest of the way. There are plenty of people that want that business, unfortunately. There are also lots of customs folks in may countries that either sympathize with Iran or can be bought. That isn't to say the sanctions don't bite, but rather that Iran has done a pretty good job of continuing a defense industry with them in place. Iran has supposedly just delivered another 2000 drones to Russia. If close to true, that indicates supply is not a problem.

The 500,000.00 number the NYT used for an AMRAAM is also possibly suspect. The unit cost of an AIM-120D is known to be about 1 million dollars. The NASAMS probably are equipped with AIM-120Cs, which were cheaper when originally built. What they cost today is probably hard to say. Most recent procurements are FMS which obscures the real cost/price of the items, but 500,000.00 is undoubtedly low.

[Goose]

Of course the "cost" of an S-300 missile may be 140k but since they aren't being made anymore by Ukraine at least, they are probably worth much much more than that. The relative dollar cost is not really so much the issue when we compare drones vs interceptors. The US and the west broadly has a much healthier economic base to afford these things, it's more a question of manufacturing capacity and political will.

While I agree that manufacturing capacity and will are key, these things are not independent of cost. Many Americans may be quite willing to give Ukraine a lot of things, but if they are shooting 48 million dollars a day worth of missiles it is going to add up fast, like 1.4 billion a month. No danger of that though because we haven't given them enough missiles to do that. The capacity to produce issue is also tied to money. These missiles require skilled labor and complex support equipment to build, and increasing production requires more of both. The workers have to be trained and the equipment has to be procured and manufactured. This is neither cheap nor fast. These things all cost money, and getting that money will inevitably affect the "will" of many politicians.

The Iranian drones may only cost 20k to produce (wonder where that number even comes from, does Shahed Industries have a catalog?), but there is some upper limit on Iranian/Russian procurement of necessary components and manufacturing throughput. Since these drones have many Western components, it may be hard to really ramp up production.

The 20K cost of production is an estimate based on the components found in the drones that have been shot down and the known labor costs in Iran. We also kind of know that Russia is paying about 36K each for the drones, so that is a "reasonable" mark-up for Iran. These drones don't require particularly skilled labor to build and there are plenty of Iranians who would want the work and have the skills. The components like engines, warhead and fuselage materials are readily available in Iran, as either domestic manufacture or "dual use" materials that are easily imported. They already have "ramped up" production and have the capacity to continue to do so.

It is wise to consider that every drone Iran has built so far has been built with the "full Monty" of sanctions in place for quite a few years. They are already very skilled in getting electronic components into their country. This is partially because many other nations do not view Iran as a "pariah state" and trade with them without many safeguards. Get the chips into these countries and it is "no problem" the rest of the way. There are plenty of people that want that business, unfortunately. There are also lots of customs folks in may countries that either sympathize with Iran or can be bought. That isn't to say the sanctions don't bite, but rather that Iran has done a pretty good job of continuing a defense industry with them in place. Iran has supposedly just delivered another 2000 drones to Russia. If close to true, that indicates supply is not a problem.

The 500,000.00 number the NYT used for an AMRAAM is also possibly suspect. The unit cost of an AIM-120D is known to be about 1 million dollars. The NASAMS probably are equipped with AIM-120Cs, which were cheaper when originally built. What they cost today is probably hard to say. Most recent procurements are FMS which obscures the real cost/price of the items, but 500,000.00 is undoubtedly low.