The global situation is constantly changing, wars are frequent in various parts of the world, and many countries have accelerated the pace of weapons research and development.
Now, however, more than ever, many countries are turning their attention to cabbage-based weapons. Instead of comparing the performance of weapons, people focus on the cost of weapons. What are the next implications of this situation?
The Houthi drone is actually the nemesis of US warships?
Regarding this issue, let's start directly from the three current war-prone points:
The first is Yemen. Today, Yemen's Houthi rebels, relying on drones in their hands, crouch near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait every day to supply merchant ships. Moreover, the Houthis are quite "principled" and only target Israeli merchant ships, and the angry Israel is speechless. In desperation, Israel had no choice but to seek help from the United States.
However, the United States has nothing to do about the dilemma facing Israel. Because the interceptor missiles on US warships have little effect on Houthi drones. Of course, these missiles can accurately intercept drones, but the cost of interception is really not worth it.
You must know that the cost of an SM-2 interceptor missile in the US military is at least about 2.4 million US dollars. The Houthi attack drones cost only a few thousand dollars. No one can stand the exchange of millions of dollars in weapons to consume thousands of dollars in weapons. So to this day, the United States has no choice but to let the Houthis do whatever they want on the shore.
In addition to the Houthis, groups like Hamas in Palestine are also experts in building cabbage weapons. For example, the hand-rubbed rockets that made a lot of noise before were Hamas's proud work.
According to the video published by Hamas itself, they broke down many steel pipes into small sections of parts. Hamas then fused fertilizer, sugar and potassium nitrate to make the propellant of the rockets. Then they poured the melted propellant into the steel pipe, and when the propellant condensed, the rocket basically began to take shape.
On this basis, Hamas equipped the rockets with a TNT-filled warhead. In this way, the hand-rubbed rockets came into play. In order to show the artistic sense of hand-rubbing rockets, Hamas even painted the appearance of such rockets, which can be said to be exquisite.
According to Hamas, the range of this hand-rubbed rocket is between 5 kilometers and 20 kilometers, and the maximum range can reach about 80 kilometers. It is equivalent to being able to fight from one city to another, and it is the most suitable for siege.
Hamas's hand-rubbed rockets cost more than you might think
The most important thing is that the rocket can be launched without a professional launcher. With just one torch, it can be lit. Of course, because of this, hand-rubbed rockets lack a positioning system. Once launched, whether or not it can hit the target depends on luck.
But this is also the most terrifying point, after all, you don't know where the target is, let alone others. In this case, hand-rubbed rockets can be described as a big killer among the poor ghosts.
At the beginning, in order to defend against the saturation attack of hand-rubbed rockets, Israel had to use up all the defensive ammunition in the Iron Dome system. Even so, they still couldn't stop all the hand-rubbing rockets.
Of course, even if it is stopped, it will be fine, and Hamas will not lose money. Because the cost of a hand-rubbed rocket is only 500 dollars. And the cost of an Iron Dome defense missile is at least as high as a hundred thousand dollars, which is more expensive than a Tesla car.
In this case, the more Israel intercepts, the more it loses. So in every sense of the word, Hamas has earned it.
Of course, the best in cabbage weapons is naturally the drones on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
You must know that before the Russian army uses cheap drones, it generally uses "Iskander" missiles to hit targets. However, the "Iskander" missile is easy to use, but it is too expensive, and one missile starts at least one million. This is really worse for Russia, which is not rich.
It is precisely because of this that the Russian army later simply withdrew the "Iskander" missiles and instead sent the air force to carry out low-altitude bombing against Ukraine, dropping some iron bombs with no guidance capability.
However, although this type of attack is low-cost, it is also very risky. The slightest carelessness brought down the Russian plane. For example, in March 2022, a Su-34 fighter of the Russian army was shot down by the Ukrainian army, and even the pilot was captured.
In the face of this situation, how did the Russian army deal with it? Quite simply, it directly adopted the "Shahid-136" suicide drone produced in Iran.
Compared with other weapons and equipment, one of the most significant advantages of this drone is its low cost. It is said that the parts of the drone are basically commercial products, and there are a lot of them on Pinduoduo. You can rub it out by hand, and the comprehensive cost is less than $20,000. Compared with the millions of missiles, it can be said that it is drizzle.
The Russian army's ultra-cheap Lancet cruise missiles are no problem for hitting planes and tanks
Of course, despite the low cost of the drone, it is very combat-ready. The 50 kg warhead it carries can easily blow up three floors on the opposite side. If you come a few more times, it seems that you can take out an entire building.
Judging from the news at the time, as soon as the "Shahid-136" suicide drone was shot, the Ukrainian army immediately fled when they heard the news, and they did not dare to gamble their lives on tomorrow. Even now, this drone is still a big killer in the hands of the Russian army. Before each expedition of the main force, a wave of drones will be released to clear the line.
It is worth mentioning that today's Russia has made persistent efforts and developed the latest suicide drone, named the Lancet cruise missile.
The missile, which resembles a suicide drone, can dive at speeds of up to 300 km/h. Due to the fact that it carries 3 kg of high explosives, as well as a shaped armor-piercing warhead. So it can scrap many tanks and armored vehicles in an instant. Even fighter jets are powerless in front of it.
Of course, the biggest advantage of the Lancet cruise missile is, of course, its cost. According to data provided by the Russian military, the cost of the Lancet cruise missile is only $30,000, which is far lower than its targets.
For example, the Leopard 2 main battle tank used by the Ukrainian army cost more than 10 million US dollars. There are also Patriot missiles provided by the United States, and the cost of a single shot has also reached $2 million. Even the Stinger missile, which claims to be the most cost-effective, costs about $100,000.
It can be seen from this that once the Lancet cruise missile is put into battle, judging from the firepower and equipment of the Ukrainian army, it will basically not be able to withstand the consumption of a few days, and the fire will stop immediately.
Now the Russian side has also said that they are about to mass-produce the Lancet cruise missile, so that it can use swarm tactics in the later stage.
It is foreseeable that once the Russian army carries out such tactics, the pattern of traditional warfare will be changed. Because conventional radars and air defense systems can only be used against large aircraft, as well as missiles. But if it's a drone, it's basically impossible to intercept it.
Russia released a picture of the "Lancet-3" cruise missile striking Ukraine's position
After all, the size of the drone is too small, the flight altitude is too low, and the flight speed is too slow. Therefore, no matter how the radar on the opposite side scans, it cannot be accurately locked. What's more, these drones still appear in swarm formations, which makes it even more difficult to intercept.
In general, when this kind of cabbage-based weapons are really popular on the battlefield, the future mode of war will no longer be limited to improving the performance of weapons, but will try to reduce the cost of weapons. After all, war is about attrition, and only by having the last laugh can you become the real winner.