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The U.S. Defense Industrial Base-It's Worse Than You Thought-For Example-Newport News is the only shipyard that can make U.S. aircraft carriers.
[RealClearDefense] Not what you thought it was and not what it needs to beThe Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with increased tensions in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region, has generated many debates. Debates about the stability of the international order, the cohesion of NATO, and many others. But for the United States, one significant debate regards the size and expansibility of the American defense industrial base. It’s a discussion that is well past due. Last year, Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl testified to Congress that, “What the Ukraine conflict showed is that, frankly, our defense industrial base was not at the level that we needed it to be to generate munitions.” But the challenge with ammunition is more symptom than cause, in economic terms something of a “leading indicator.” The ammunition shortage reflects the reality of a production base that over the past thirty years has shrunk from sixteen to five ammunition plants. But that is merely a specific reflection of a general concern applicable to aircraft, surface ships, submarines, missiles, and ground combat vehicles. Simply put, the basic question is this: Is the current American defense industrial base large enough? And if not, what should we do about it? Let’s go back to the origins of an enduring myth – the enormous size of the American “military industrial complex.” When President Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address in January 1961, his comments included the caution, “we must guard against the acquisition of un-warranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” Although Eisenhower also cautioned against a lack of military preparedness, his “military-industrial complex” comment became the line for which the speech is remembered. And despite the passage of more than sixty years, the phrase has endured even though the “complex” itself has not. At the time of Eisenhower’s speech some fifteen companies in the Fortune 100 were engaged in the defense effort. But, as a group, those fifteen were operating at a loss as the companies and their pentagon customers were still finding a moving “price point.” The defense business had changed after World War II, shifting from a largely government domain – now known as the “arsenal system” -- to the commercial sector. Tellingly, Eisenhower’s first two defense secretaries, Charles Wilson, and Neil McElroy, were former corporate executives. When President Ronald Reagan initiated his “defense build-up” in 1981, the defense industrial base had experienced enormous growth. There were over forty major companies engaged in it, fourteen of them able to design and manufacture high-performance military aircraft. Today there are only three. Since the end of the Cold War, the American defense industrial base has compressed from those forty or more firms down to five, driven by changing strategic circumstances and federal budget priorities. The 2023 Fortune data finds that in its top 100 there are only three firms listed in the Aerospace and Defense (A&D) sector – Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. In the larger Fortune 500 there are eight, and in the Fortune 1000 there are sixteen. Posted by: NoMoreBS 2023-12-15 |
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