If Huqiang North made missiles, how low could the price go? Let me share my opinion: 20 years ago, a cruise missile (the kind with a turbojet engine, not the current type of loitering munition), with a range of 300 kilometers, a warhead weighing 30 kilograms, terrain-following radar control for ground-skimming flight, manual inertial navigation data input, and terminal image comparison, not counting labor costs, only calculating material costs, and powered by "love electricity," the cost was about 100,000 RMB, half of which went to that turbojet. It required three postgraduate-level enthusiasts working on a labor-of-love basis: one studying electronics, one automation, and one aerospace engineering. If you wanted to save manpower, the aerospace person could be replaced by someone who builds model aircraft, using a jet-powered model aircraft as the body. The electronics and automation person could be combined into one since the automation student also needed to study part of electronics, and signal and communication could be "borrowed" from classmates at the academy.
Now, instead of using a turbojet, we switch to a propeller, ditch the missile body for an aircraft model, replace the inertial guidance system with GPS and strapdown inertial guidance, and it becomes a loitering munition costing 20,000 yuan. A guided rocket shell with a 100-kilometer range, 300 mm diameter, is essentially no different from a short-range ballistic missile. Fully loaded, it weighs over 800 kilograms, with over 200 kilograms of warhead. Calculating only the material costs, it should not exceed 50,000 yuan. The strapdown inertial guidance is similar; the propellant can be made by a fireworks factory, as the components are the same. A 100-kilometer range isn't particularly demanding, and the fuel shape doesn't need to be overly precise. The engine structure is simple but should have graphite heat insulation, though it's not a highly secret technology. The body uses carbon fiber, fiberglass, and resin to make yourself.
Mainly, it can't be handcrafted like the aforementioned cruise missile because the size is too large, and most people can't find suitable tools. Therefore, factories need to use large equipment. Although making the body has little technical complexity, it's easy to hand-lay the panels, but it's difficult to create a large-sized cylinder with few defects. For factories with large-scale equipment, creating a dedicated mold for this purpose is no problem. Moreover, for factories, making a thin metal shell and then wrapping it with carbon fiber is convenient, much like making a hydrogen gas cylinder.
However, factories need mass production to reduce costs. Solid rocket propellants are hazardous materials (similar in composition to fireworks), so management costs increase significantly, and they need to maintain a profit margin. Otherwise, no one would mass-produce flammable and explosive products (although fireworks are civilian goods, their gross margins are relatively high in civilian products, around 50%). After mass production, the price might be compressed to around 100,000 RMB. This price is under legal conditions. If you could place an order at the million-unit level, you might reach this price, and Huqiang North’s people would likely take on the orders.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834410490254536/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone.