American weapons are less efficient after decades of consolidation. #military #defense

Through the Cold War, weapons got more complex, moving away from the mass production efficiency of World War II. And then in the '90s, the defense contractor industry saw major consolidation. This consolidation has led to two main problems: inefficiencies in how weapons are made, and maintained. Let's start with how they're made. To understand just how inefficient and expensive weapons manufacturing in the US can be, we can look to the F-35. The first development contracts for the fighter jet were commissioned in October 2001, right after the 9/11 terror attacks. After 9/11, the main focus wasn't on cost. It was on capability. That ambitious goal came with tradeoffs. We'd love to have this airplane today, uh as you would expect, but uh but the first delivery will be 2008. That first delivery didn't actually come until 2011, 3 years after initially promised, and just under 10 years after the contract was awarded. In the commercial world, if you're not getting products to market, you're not a company anymore, right? That's not the case in DoD. In 2023, F-35s were delivered an average of 61 days past the deadline. In 2024, delivery delays jumped to an average of 238 days late. The costs don't stop once a weapon system is delivered.