Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: phil@brahms.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Scuds vs Patriots Message-ID: <1991Jan27.112304.29269@cbnews.att.com> Date: 27 Jan 91 11:23:04 GMT References: <1991Jan25.033140.12146@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc; Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 28 Approved: military@att.att.com From: phil@brahms.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai) In article <1991Jan25.033140.12146@cbnews.att.com> wolit@mhuxd.att.com (Jan I Wolitzky) writes: | | |From: wolit@mhuxd.att.com (Jan I Wolitzky) |I've heard figures of around $700K for the price of a single Patriot |missile. Does anyone know how much Saddam paid for the 50's-era |Scuds? I would imagine they were fairly cheap. Given that he's |been destroying two of the Patriots with each of his Scuds, his |tactic might be very cost-effective. So what? Cost-effectiveness is not necessarily important. It's not like he starts with $500 million of arms and we start with $500 million of arms and the guy who runs out first loses. I'm not saying cost-effectiveness is totally unimportant, but we certainly don't have to maintain parity to achieve our goals. A more interesting question is how many SCUDs and Patriots are left and how fast can Raytheon make more Patriots? I expect there won't be too many new SCUDs in Iraq's hands. -- When someone drinks and drives and hurts someone, the abuser is blamed. When someone drinks and handles a gun and hurts someone, the media calls for a gun ban.