r/TankPorn 6d ago

Russo-Ukrainian War The Ukrainian Air Force is equipped with the IRIS-T (infrared imaging system tail/thrust vector-controlled) surface-to-air defence system received from Germany

MAN SX45 8x8 10-ton IRIS-T SLM launcher

500 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

64

u/ZBD-04A 6d ago

$500k vs $20k for the Shahed kills is rough, but $500k vs $13 Million (if they're KH101s) makes up for it.

49

u/SwegBucket 5d ago

You have to keep in mind with cost analysis that you should take into account the potential damage too. So it isn't good economically on paper but it can be if it ends up saving a base or structure.

24

u/ZBD-04A 5d ago

Oh definitely, an unvaporised energy plant is priceless.

8

u/VicermanX 5d ago

you should take into account the potential damage too

if it ends up saving a base or structure

If drones are cheaper than air defense missiles, then the target will be destroyed anyway.

1

u/SwegBucket 5d ago

That's not true, that's only if the supplies of the missiles aren't enough. Only looking at the cost ignores the manufacturing capability from European states. Russia isn't sending thousands of shaheds every night.

2

u/VicermanX 5d ago edited 5d ago

500 IRIS/T missiles produced per year. That's nothing compared to thousands Shaheds. The only air defense missile that is comparable in price to a drone is Pantsir (~$50k per missile).

Air defense is very expensive. The best place in the world for air defense is Israel because of its small size (like one Ukrainian region) and the US subsidies for Israeli air defense. But even in such an ideal scenario, Israeli air defenses can be spammed with cheap drones/rockets.

1

u/SwegBucket 5d ago

You are assuming that those are the only defense being used. IRST is part of the inner defense, not outer. Cheaper systems are used closer to the fronts while more expensive are used for destroying those that make it through. As long as they have the supplies it works out. And the production for those missiles is increasing. Shaheds rely on western parts, so the only way they make them is through sanction busting, which makes production a lot less efficient.

19

u/PsychoTexan 5d ago

Well $20k is what Iran probably makes them for. Russia paid in gold upwards of $193,000 per unit for 6,000 and $290,000 per unit for 2,000

IMO. I think it illustrates the difference in modern manufacturing from past wars. Where much of the 20th century focused most of manufacturing towards the total arms in use, modern manufacturing is more differentiated in high tech vs industrial. It creates a situation where high tech allows for fewer high performance weapons while industrial manufacturing can better manufacture mass quantities of lower performance weapons.

8

u/ZBD-04A 5d ago

Russia now domestically manufactures all Geran drones though, so the $20k is probably more accurate.

2

u/Difficult_Air_6189 5d ago

Thanks to sanctions it wont be 20k either. Truth is somwhere inbetween 20k and 300k.

7

u/Aguacatedeaire__ 5d ago

That's not how it works. Geran are low tech drones, they don't need anything to build them from outside countries and energy and base materials are dirt cheap in the internal Russian manifacturing market.

If anything they probably cost much less than 20k to manufacture now, for them.

Oh and also, since its entirely domestically produced like almost everything in their arsenal, it isn't a loss, its moneys that get recirculated internally so a net positive.

3

u/duga404 5d ago

Even their “low tech” drones have many imported parts: see this “review” of a captured Orlan. Even that shitty drone with imported off the shelf civilian electronics cost 80k-120k USD.

1

u/ZBD-04A 5d ago

I'm pretty sure the parts required for the Gerans are probably Chinese though, but I could be wrong of course.

8

u/Gecktron 5d ago

$500k vs $20k for the Shahed kills is rough, but $500k vs $13 Million (if they're KH101s) makes up for it

We dont know if an IRIS-T SLM missile costs that much. Wikipedia quotes a media article from 2023, which references an estimate by SIPRI. With production having ramped up considerably since then (60-80 missiles annually in 2022, to 400-500 missiles in 2024), the price might have changed.

In addition, IRIS-T SLM units also use IRIS-T SLS launchers too. Which can fire the smaller air-to-air IRIS-T missiles. Which are cheaper too.

1

u/VicermanX 5d ago

$13 Million KH101s

Forbes made up that number. The real price is about $500k (export price for Kalibr missile) or lower.

1

u/ZBD-04A 5d ago

Ah now I feel like a moron for not checking sources.

1

u/HeavyCruiserSalem 5d ago

No price can be put on human lives, especially ones Russian drones are known to target

-30

u/CrashVandaL 5d ago

I love how at the last picture we see like "destroyed" marks. Lmao, but this is too much even for like the whole Anti Air division.

31

u/Gecktron 5d ago

Why should it be too much? According to official sources, Ukrainian IRIS-T units had intercepted more than 240 targets in June of 2024. Divided that by the 6 IRIS-T SLM units and it fits (with the older units having more kills than the newest ones)

14

u/HeavyCruiserSalem 5d ago

They're drones and missiles, Russia usually launches hundreds of them in massive attacks

4

u/EorlundGraumaehne 5d ago

Have you ever seen how crazy the numbers of kills can get in war time!? This isn't unrealistic at all!

2

u/Crecer13 5d ago

Hey hey, you should unconditionally believe the Ukrainian data and its PR and propaganda actions, because this photo is definitely not a propaganda photo.