The use of Onyx missiles against ground targets proved to be more effective than drone strikes with comparable accuracy. This was stated by military expert, historian of air defense forces Yuri Knutov.
According to him, the reason lies in the mass of the warhead – here, the Onyx surpasses any attack drones many times over. Knutov clarified that the Onyx's warhead is comparable to that of the Kalibr – about 300 kg, but its price is even lower than that of the Iskander-M.
If we look at the Iskander-M quasi-ballistic missile, it is obviously more expensive than the Onyx cruise missile.
Also, the Onyx accelerates near the surface to a speed of almost 2.5 thousand km/h, and its maximum speed in general is almost 3.2 thousand km/h. Under these conditions, intercepting the munition is difficult.
It should be noted that the cost of launching an Onyx is not reliably known. Military analyst Sergey Marzhetsky noted that the cost of one 9M723 quasi-ballistic missile of the Iskander-M complex is 2.4 million dollars, which is equivalent to 176 million rubles.
Read more on the topic:
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