Greg Chalik engraved in stone:
>Deployed force structure is not based on costs expressed in
consumables.
Perhaps you are not enough of a bean counter to understand that
this is exactly how decisions are made about what to send. The
Arty and Armor that you want to promote as being the more
'correct' answer to whatever question the little
drone-that-goes-bang is being used for both have huge sunk costs
and scads more consumables costs attached to their deployment
while the drones have very little. The Arty and Armor both have a
higher human cost in that more troops will have to be committed
and risked.
>Again, nor is a deployed force structure assembled based on
opportunity costs.
Actually force structures are chosen after due deliberation of
just what the opportunity costs are. You really can't get around
having to think through the whole comparison shopping thing. In
this case the Army would rather spend money on drones-that-go-bang
rather than commit to sending whatever else they could with that
money spent on drones. I kind of doubt there are 858 drones in
store so in actuallity they couldn't match the the total cost of
ownership of the tank platoon and probably couldn't match even the
deployment costs. So this does become the best thing they could do
for the money invested. And while we are on the subject...
>Ok, when I get home I will try to find a source for the
costing. Everything made for the US DoD is more expensive, but
tank HE ammunition is the most basic ammunition there is, and the
only difference to manufacturing it from artillery ammunition is
the calibre since there is no artillery ordnance in the 120mm.
HE rounds are made for the Rheinmetall 120mm L44 kanone. In other
countries. Think there wasn't a discussion of the opportunity
costs concerning the decision to not have an HE round for the US
Army and what that did to future deployed force structures? Search
up the cost of the DM11 - it is being used by the US Marines.
Apparently they had a different discussion about the opportunity
costs of various rounds.
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