cf the other thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48845442 ; Ukraine has a hugely inventive and effective drone industry because it has to work. If it doesn't succeed, there is no Ukraine, and everyone involved in making the drones is dead, fled, in a POW camp, or sucked into the internal Russian displacement system away from their family.

By comparison, if the US products fail, there's no real negative effect on the mainland United States.

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27183 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> if the US products fail, there's no real negative effect on the mainland United States

It's even worse than that. Schedules slipping and cost overruns are good things for the manufacturer, because they can charge more on top of their initial contract. Cost-plus ftw.

	▲	Retric 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Cost plus isn’t nearly as common as it used to be. But you still run into similar issues regardless of the contract structure. Try and build a rail network without anyone in government wanting something changed from the initial design for 20 years.

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scottyah 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They can pop out defects and if things go wrong and there's friendly fire or civilian loss, it's chalked up to scrappy efforts in war. The USA does not get the same amount of leeway, saving our people is a top priority and the media harps on any mistake.

	▲	sjsdaiuasgdia an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It's an existential threat for Ukraine. The US has not faced a similar (external) existential threat in a very long time. Ukraine fights back or they lose their sovereignty. Most of the conflicts the US gets into, it's entirely a choice to put soldiers at risk. So yeah, the evaluation of war effort will be different, because the situations are completely different.

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barrenko 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

To add that Ukraine was also USSR's drone research center; not to detract from what you are saying.

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rayiner 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, their tech development in drones is really impressive. An invading army has a way of focusing the mind and bureaucracy.

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Fedot an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

To be fair, I know plenty of people there. Drones are important, but they aren't the only reason the front is holding. Both sides rely heavily on drones.

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letitgo12345 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well there's long term impact but yea that doesn't create enough political pressure to make process efficient

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NooneAtAll3 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]