# Why does the military use guided missiles so often? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884 "2009-07-04T09:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884/21 "2009-07-06T06:41:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Whn you fire the gun, you have downrange ricochets for about 3 miles in about a +/- 45 degree cone from the direction of fire. If there’s anything other than bare desert out there, ROE might well demand a missile to reduce the risk of collateral damage. The 30mm gun on the apache carries explosive rounds - there wouldn’t be richochets. > [@yoyodyne](#): > > Out of ammo? It carries 1200 cannon rounds, so very unlikely. The second shot, destroying the mortar tube, seems especially wasteful. In that case there was no to escape - there was no time pressure and they weren’t in danger. War is unnecesarily expensive when you’re using $80,000 missiles to destroy $10 missile tubes when a few cheap cannon shells would do the job as well. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884/22 "2009-07-06T07:13:34Z")
> [@Gethsemane](#): > > My only contribution here is to mention the BBIED. Bicycle Bourne IED. Sounds like a joke until you think of how much you could stuff into a bike frame. > > …no wait, it’s still pretty funny. This reminds me, I haven’t seen any [This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Bike_is_a_Pipe_Bomb) stickers around for a while. They used to be all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884/23 "2009-07-06T13:35:38Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > It carries 1200 cannon rounds, so very unlikely. We don’t know what the initial loadout was. The max payload weight of an Apache does not allow a full load of fuel, 30mm, Hellfires, and FFARs. Max weight also drops as temperature increases. It may have been carrying extra fuel to increase range or loiter time. There is a belly fuel tank that takes the place of the 30mm magazine. It may have had a malfunctioning gun. It may have been out of gun range and couldn’t go closer because of other threats in the area. There may have been a supply shortage of ammo and rounds were rationed. It may have expended its ammo in prior engagements. 1200 rounds is less than two minutes of fire. Or they may have just liked watching the explosion. There’s no way for us to know the actual reason. ---
**Author:** ![Sablicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sablicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sablicious)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884/24 "2009-07-06T13:42:11Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Why does the military use guided missiles so often? Think two guys measuring up in the latrine.😛 (\*Expensive phallic symbols) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-military-use-guided-missiles-so-often/501884.md?page=1)