The Business of American Military Deterrence

WALL STREET JOURNAL ^

[DIRTYSECRET]

You’ve heard the problems. A $2 million interceptor to shoot down a $2,000 drone. U.S. anti-ship missiles expected to run out on day eight of any war over Taiwan. If Ukraine teaches anything, it is that a stockpile of existing weapons is less important than a manufacturing base—the ability to produce lots more weapons fast, and to adapt them and innovate on the fly.

---

TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: military

[DIRTYSECRET]

A rather interesting article worthy of one's undivided attention. The subject is an Indian-born fella, only 43 years of age who thinks outside the box. It reminds me of when our cost-cutter speaker Newt suggested the Pentagon should be turned into triangle. Trump's gotta be thinking along these lines.

[DIRTYSECRET]

**the F-35 “has no founder.” A $2 trillion program was spawned entirely inside the procurement bureaucracy. “We started in the mid-’90s, and it’s basically just working now.**

We’re doing something wrong big time. This sounds just like California’s high-speed rail boondoggle. Think Wollman Skating Rink. Too many entrenched bureaucrats guarding their turf could get us all killed. That’s serious.

[DIRTYSECRET]

**President FDR raided General Motors in 1939 for its production genius. For nearly a year before Pearl Harbor, and before Germany’s subsequent declaration of war against the U.S., William Knudsen was already on the job, organizing U.S. defense production.

Hitler and Tojo knew to fear America’s slumbering industrial mass. The counterfactual is unresolvable. Had Washington acted sooner, who knows? World War II might have been avoided.**
I didn’t know that. Lefties get in the way. Negotiations first and the naive assurance that’s the way to go.

[pfflier]

Many people are fixated on the "Arsenal of Democracy" era of WWII when we had years to ramp up and convert for war production.

Few realize that a non-nuclear peer conflict would be over in days, not years. The winner will be the one who still has the most marbles left after the first exchange.

[delta7]

Few realize that a non-nuclear peer conflict would be over in days, not years.
——————
Few realize conflicts today are largely won financially….no “ money”-, no weapons, no payroll to pay soldiers, etc…

The West attacking Russian assets was the very first step.

[KTM rider]

tanks and war ships are becoming obsolete

. replaced by remote controlled drones manufactured in Asia

the US military will have to wait on shipments of military drones to arrive in sea containers from China, just like Ukraine and the string line controlled attack drones they bought off E-Bay with US funding and developed/piloted by US contractors

we are entering the age of robot warfare and the M.I.C. is way way behind on this change in warfare

[DIRTYSECRET]

Understandable-the obsolete part. That’s why this guy is out there. He’s a step ahead of everyone. Doesn’t mean he’s right.

[Openurmind]

There is a huge difference between supplying just ourselves with needed deterrence and supplying half the world with deterrence and paying for it out of our own pockets...

[pfflier]

I've limited my perspective to an actual shooting war.

Along you line of thought, I think cyber war would be more devastating that a strict financial war. Busting an economy can take years. Shutting one down can take minutes.

As a matter of fact they can become inseparable. Shut down most cyber systems and you shut down most financial operations. People now have never had to walk to the bank and write a withdrawal slip.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Thanks guys. Serious subject too complicated for the rest of us-9 replies?