Now let's look at our strategic reserves, which are at a 40 year historical low:

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_of_crude_oil_in_the_strategic_petroleum_reserve

We are being set up for failure

So how do we fix that? Bring supply chains back home, such as is the intent with semiconductors? The article also talks about the contracting strategy not being built for speed and simplicity. Seems like something that can be changed as long as the folks in the White House support quicker manufacturing/production.

I saw a video that argued the monopolization of US Defense contractors within the last 20-30 years (from 20+ smaller firms to just Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman) has made the industry sluggish.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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Now let's look at our strategic reserves, which are at a 40 year historical low:

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_of_crude_oil_in_the_strategic_petroleum_reserve

We are being set up for failure

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I don't think we are set up for failure but definitely learning lessons with other countries soldiers blood.

The crude reserves can be replaced very quickly.

This was always going to be a problem with our growing level of tech.

We simply can't produce them in the numbers we need for sustained combat due to cost and intricacy of manufacture. We have multiple double digit billion weapons programs that will net us very low hundreds of platforms over a decade. That has always been kinda insane to me. We have been stacking our eggs in the "quality " basket for a generation now and ignoring the fact that in an actual war you HAVE to have quantity too. Honestly a little frustrating at times and the exact mindset that Nazi Germany had. Wasting untold amounts of resources on Uber weapons and were left with technological wonders that were prone to breakage and in such low numbers it was impossible to depend on actually having any when needed in the places they needed to be in.

And I don't know how active war burn rates on munitions are always underestimated. We are America! We have been fighting since our inception. How do we always get that wrong and are caught flat footed at the start of every conflict?!

Ok, the above statement is a little tongue in cheek but not completely. Again, just frustrating the oodles of cash we have spent on failed programs chasing starfighters and not covering supply stockpiles beyond basic training levels.

As far as current cost of procurement goes, I think we all realize the unbelievable amount of bloat that tacks on more and more to each "unit" of munition we make. That's an admin problem and could be at least alleviated somewhat with some aggressive pruning and new SOPs. And I say that as a defense contractor.

Well, this turned into a mini rant now didn't it…

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Agreed. There are a lot of industries that are just getting bigger and more bloated, and no one is willing to step up and trim the fat. We obviously need the military industrial complex, but there is so much corruption and padding of contracts, that we're not getting our money's worth. The same goes for other things, like healthcare, and companies that build our infrastructure.

It amazes me that we have been at war for 20 years, spending trillions of dollars, creating tons of jobs in the military industrial complex, in national security, sub-agencies like the TSA, and spending so much money on so many things, and yet our economy hasn't really boomed at all during this time. Comparatively, the US spent 4 trillion on WWII (inflation adjusted) and about 8 trillion in the war on terror. Granted it was over a different time span, but still. Look at what we got for that 4 trillion, and our economy after, and look at what the 8 trillion has gotten us.

Sorry if my post deviates off topic.

The key is going to be someone stepping up and taking some licks politically. It'll be tough, and it'll cost jobs in the short term, but if we can bring more high tech manufacturing jobs back, it'll be beneficial in the long term.

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You have to think about how different the policies around war are now vs. WWII. There isn't much stomach for casualties, ours or theirs. The generals in 1944 would have carpet bombed parts of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our soldiers wouldn't have had rules of engagement. Now we want war to be clean. That requires technology.

Also, the sheer scale of the mobilization for WWII is difficult to imagine now. We sent so many young men to fight that women and older men were called upon to work on assembly lines building tanks and planes. How much shorter would the GWOT have been if the government implemented wartime rationing? People would have been up in arms. It's a much different time.

I do get the concerns about the military-industrial complex, but you don't get the world's best military without the people who dream up and build the weapons.