Bryan Clark and Dan Patt
The Pentagon’s depleted weapons magazines don’t look like those of a military preparing to fight China in two years. Facing shortages for training and future contingencies, Washington has constrained weapons shipments to Ukraine. At home, industry is unable to keep up with demand and the changes needed to counter GPS jamming. But the uncomfortable truth is this—today’s scarcity is self-imposed.
With their custom components and bespoke integration, the DoD’s preferred munitions are more like the artisan products featured on Etsy than the mass-produced weapons that came off assembly lines during World War II.
The Arsenal of Democracy turned auto plants into aircraft and bomb factories by designing—or redesigning—military hardware for producibility. To prepare for protracted conflict, the DoD needs to think like a manufacturer and pursue weapons that leverage existing parts and elastic production facilities.
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