US War Surge Production Too Slow, CSIS Finds
By Mark Cancian and Adam Saxton on January 19, 2021 at 4:01 AM
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Jan. 26, 2013) Huntington Ingalls Industries celebrated significant progress today as the 555-metric ton island was lowered onto the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at the company's Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division. The 60-foot long, 30-foot wide island was the 452nd lift of the nearly 500 total lifts needed to complete the aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy Huntington Ingalls Industries/Released)
The United States could not make enough military equipment fast enough to sustain its military in the event of a major war. While much thought has been given to how a great power conflict might erupt or play out, far less has been written on how the U.S. industrial base could sustain U.S. wartime equipment losses in such a conflict.
Our study at the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that it would take many years to replace current inventories, even at surge production rates. And the situation is not getting better as industry consolidation has squeezed out excess capacity. The Navy would probably face the biggest problem. Each ship lost would be, effectively, irreplaceable during the conflict. The Defense Department would be well advised to make some modest investments to hedge against a protracted great power conflict.
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/us-war-surge-production-too-slow-csis-finds/