Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
When MIC puppets (read: any American politician) have the nerve to bring up special interests.
I usually don't like Hu Xijin. But this is so true.
The MQ-9B is an extremely ordinary HALE drone. In fact, it is subpar in terms of endurance, which is the main point of these systems. $3 B for 100 MQ-9Bs mean $100 M per drone. I know, exports usually include munitions, spares, training, integration, etc. But this is still ridiculous. For a bit higher price you can buy AESA-equipped fighters with the stuff I just listed included. And, the Reapers will very likely come as some features removed considering India's ties to Russia.
I guess this is what happens when you have great power ambitions without having a good defense industry. You pay %300 profit margins for downgraded equipment.
The MQ-9B is an extremely ordinary HALE drone. In fact, it is subpar in terms of endurance, which is the main point of these systems. $3 B for 100 MQ-9Bs mean $100 M per drone. I know, exports usually include munitions, spares, training, integration, etc. But this is still ridiculous. For a bit higher price you can buy AESA-equipped fighters with the stuff I just listed included. And, the Reapers will very likely come as some features removed considering India's ties to Russia.
I guess this is what happens when you have great power ambitions without having a good defense industry. You pay %300 profit margins for downgraded equipment.
A lot of the high costs probably also goes to kickbacks for Indian politicians and military officers.
oops!! 30 drones not 100.
Americans are not dumb when it comes to profiteering.
India is paying 100$ million per drone, you can almost buy a F22 or J20 for that price, or you can buy 1 + 1/5th of a F35.
But don't think for a moment all that 100$ million per drones goes to America. The only reason India would agree to such a deal is because sizeable amounts of that cash goes straight into the pockets of the Indian and US officials who negotiated the deal together.
This is why US favors dealing with "democracies" such as India, Saudi Arabia or Israel. Any deal can go through in such systems as long as you can grease the right gears.
And then there's bozo nations like Germany and Japan who are a bit less corrupt but literally can't say no because they're occupied.
Correct me if I'm wrong but India paid $110 million bucks per Rafale didn't they?
$100 million per MQ-9B seems reasonable in that light given a few years of inflation.