Hurtful Thoughts wrote:I could at the same token of things, make a gigantic rocket-assisted unguided bullet, give it a nuclear payload, and shoot it from a metal tube at another country and get away with calling it an intercontinental ballistic something-something. And then hope that the nuclear payload will counter whatever inaccuracy will present itself.
-We actually fielded these sorts of rockets in the 50's, and shot a few down around Kuwait.
And even so, an INS that only needs to be accurate within a ten mile CEP after a flight-time of ten minutes is loads cheaper than an INS that has to remain functionally-accurate for a duration of hours, while avoiding air-defenses.
You're again making unfair comparisons. Why bother comparing a 1950s-era ballistic missile with a modern terrain-following, threat-sensing cruise missile?
Going all the way back to the genesis of both weapons, the V1 was far cheaper than the V2 for similar range and payload figures. Ten times cheaper, in fact.