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Comment by t43562 | Hacker News Reader

IIRC the Polish Piorun (Thunderbolt) is better so why not make them instead?

Piorun isn't really better. It's a modernization/rebranding of old Soviet Igla system.

According to some unverified articles online, Piorun is more effective than Stinger. It wouldn't be a surprise - the latest Stinger technology is obviously at least 20 years old and Piorun was introduced in 2019. Being derived from Russian missiles (debatable for Piorun) is also not a mark of bad quality - at some point, Western militaries were surprised to learn that Russian air-to-air missiles were much better than their own (leading to greatly improved Western missiles).

Piorun is Igla with usability enhancements. The hard part (propulsion and warhead) is mostly unchanged and this is why Piorun is slower than Stinger despite the warhead being at half the weight.

Most of East European mods of Soviet weapons are "easy" upgrades, where they change electronics and optics packages.

Effectiveness is the important measure though, right? Not individual statistics but whether people can succeed with it. That's what those unverified reports claim - that it was tested against Stinger and more likely to achieve success. That might be because it is easier to use or for other reasons.

"Piorun’s new generation seeker is equipped with two photodiode sensors that work within two electromagnetic radiations: near-infrared and mid-infrared. The signal is instantly digitalized, quickly making corrections and analyzing the heat source, distinguishing between targets and diversions."

Doesn't seem like the upgrade was that easy.

It actually does? Compared to designing a freaking missile.

It’s easier, politically, for the Biden administration to justify the Ukraine support budget when purchasing US made munitions.

Thank you for pointing out this fact

While the far more cost effective step would be to dismantle these outdated production lines and ship them into Ukraine, where they can be operated by cheap, skilled labor, with much diminished environmental and safety overhead, as part of a war economy.

Every modern war is a production war, you either outproduce your opponent, or you get overwhelmed. If Ukraine can't achieve self reliance and remains fully dependent on western trickle down, it cannot succeed long term.

If the US can kill Russians only by giving money and weapons to Ukraine they will definitely keep doing it. Ukraine has the will to fight and that’s way more important than native production lines.

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