[Reverend Wright]

A lot of people here are not going to like this but this is are really good essay connecting the dysfunction in USA DOD with the shortfall in personnel and industrial capacity, vs Global Imperial missions.

It can't be fixed by "reforms". China has established an unassailable lead, and the only cure is for the USA to downsize the Empire.

[Liz]

China has established an unassailable lead, and they
did it the easy way-—by stealing American know-how.

[BroJoeK]

from the article: "The most striking aspect of this situation is that every major branch of the U.S. military is in crisis at the same time.
All major branches are struggling with recruitment and retention targets, and the problem is particularly acute for the Army and the Navy."

This problem was solved nicely on November 5, 2024.
Since then, all services have met or exceeded their recruitment goals.

[BroJoeK]

from the article: "All major branches are arguably also facing real problems trying to adapt and update institutionalized twenthieth-century thinking to experiences from twenty-first century battlefields (though the Marine Corps is at least undergoing a serious and controversial restructuring in an attempt to alleviate this)."

We're hearing seemingly conflicting reports on this.
On the one hand, it's said there will be a massive increase in US Navy shipbuilding capacity, necessary to increase the fleet to 350 ships.
On the other hand, it appears there will be significant across-the-board downsizing and DOGE-sizing.
It's said that national defense spending will go from 3.3% of GDP down to 3% of GDP.

Will all the reductions be only in "waste, fraud & abuse"?

We'll see.

[BroJoeK]

from the article: "Though it’s a common refrain to bemoan waste and fraud inside the DoD budget, the simple reality is that a fifty-plus-year-old aircraft carrier hull like the USS Nimitz cannot be maintained forever.
The carrier, just like every other military platform, requires somewhat regular replacement due to mechanical wear and tear over time.
The U.S. military now has a massive backlog of such aging platforms, and there is simply not enough money to replace them. "

Where there's a will, there's a way.
The issue is, do we still have the will?

For as long as I can remember, some people have claimed that US aircraft carriers are now made obsolete by whatever the newest technology of the day has been.
And yet, since WWII, US carriers have visibly dominated the oceans like nothing else, always matching the latest threats with even better technology.
Still, they remain hugely expensive to build, operate and maintain.

[BroJoeK]

from the article: "Why, despite the very real attempts being made to right the ship, does nothing truly seem to work?
Rather than add to the pile of à la carte policy solutions, this essay will instead examine why the task of reforming the American military today has become such a sisyphean endeavor."

The answer is as simple and obvious as the nose on your face -- even though many can't seem to see it.

Money.

When Pres. Jimmy Carter gave away the store (i.e., Panama) and nearly lost the Cold War, he had reduced defense spending to a mere 4.5% of GDP, down from nearly 10% during the Vietnam War.

Pres. Ronald Reagan won the Cold War by increasing defense to 6% of GDP.

Today, Pres. Trump tells the Euros they must increase their defense from 2% to 5% of their GDPs.

Today, under Pres. Biden, US defense spending is around 3.3% of US GDP.

Under Pres. Trump, the only word I heard from Sec. Hegseth is that he intends to reduce that to 3% of GDP, while somehow increasing "lethality".

Of course, pretty much any military can be adequate, so long as it never has to deter or fight a war...

We'll see.

[zeestephen]

When I read an essay like this, I get the impression that government consultants are paid by the word.

The USA military budget in 2024 was $840 billion.

I am not surprised - or even concerned - that we cannot defeat the Chinese navy - 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

On the flip side, I believe the Chinese Navy would be slaughtered if it attacked the coast of California.

Also, the claim that a huge share of USA weapons are obsolete or unavailable is just not credible.

You can buy a lot of temporary substitutes or solutions for $840 billion.

[Sequoyah101]

A defense budget larger than any in the world and bigger than most major parties combined and the first suggestion this very wordy essay is, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH MONEY?

You positively have to be kidding me.

What is more, I wonder why the publication needs to go to Sweden for an author?

Malcom Kyeyune is a writer based in Sweden and contributing editor of American Affairs.

I question the credibility of the entire enterprise and wonder what their real motives are. It sounds just like another rag promoting the defense industrial complex to be sustained in the current form or bigger. Like our stupid schools, and I do mean stupid schools since that is the bulk of what they produce, stupid children, the answer is not more money.

$15 billion for a carrier? SIXTY TIMES the cost of an LNG carrier? SIXTY, that’s right. TWENTY TIMES the cost of a drill ship; albiet one of the most complex vessels afloat and costs for oilfield products are some of the most inflated in the world. Somebodies have been lulled into just going with the flow on cost instead of making serious comparison about why they should cost so damn much. Carriers should cost no more than 1/3 the current going price.

The littoral combat ships? We once had wonderful frigates that could be stamped out like widgets.

Land military weapons? Trucks are just trucks and howitzers are the same. A WWII soldier could operate a new 155 withing half a day. They are that unchanged.

An M198 howitzer now costs about $575,000 and clocks in at 15,760 lbs., just shy of 8 tons. That means it is $71,000 a ton to make. It is simple machined and fabricated steel, maybe some titanium. Industral machinery, some a whole lot more complex than this howitzer hits somewhere south of $20,000 per ton. Maybe we should let Caterpillar make our howitzers instead of Rock Island Arsenal?

Costs are too high and the defense industrial complex is making far too much money from the taxpayer. If eggs in Mexico are $2 a dozen right now and the best we can do here is around $5 isn’t something wrong? Does anyone suspect that our methods are wrong? And no, our stuff is not more sophisticated than others. Not for the most part.

We are being raped on both cost and quality. Hesgeth, are you listening?