The U.S. military is getting worse and worse off dumplings? Capacity issues leading to a drop in levels?
When people think of the United States during World War II, the first thing that comes to mind is"The land of aircraft carriers"。
At that time, the shipbuilding capacity of the United States had reached an appalling level"Assemblieu production"Scale.
The ** tonnage of water launched every year is more than ten times that of Japan, so to speak"Space crushing", so that Xiaotian can only look left and right in the Pacific Ocean.
During the Second World War alone, an impressive 155 aircraft carriers were built in the United States!
These include 27 heavy aircraft carriers, 11 light aircraft carriers, and 117 escort aircraft carriers.
Not only aircraft carriers, but the United States mass-produced other warships, including 10 battleships, 48 cruisers, 355 destroyers, 498 frigates, and 203 submarines ...
It can be said that the ** production in the United States has been reached"Luxury"of the scale.
At the same time, due to the scarcity of steel resources, Japan's military-industrial production capacity was very low, only 5 000 tanks and 66 000 aircraft were built.
If Japan's production capacity data were published on the European theater of war, Germany, Great Britain and the USSR would have been dismissive:"How dare you provoke us with such production?
What is the main reason why the company has been able to achieve such a high level of production?
When it comes to the two best in the art industry, it must be Ford and General Motors.
The military-industrial transformation of these two companies during the Second World War was a hit"Slap", disgrace the Axis powers.
Let's start with Ford, no one would have thought that an automobile company would be able to build more than 8600 B-24 heavy bombers in a year!
To that end, Ford also built the world's largest aircraft production line at the time, which was so efficient that a bomber rolled off the assembly line in just 64 minutes.
When they saw these production figures, American aircraft manufacturers were very ashamed.
General Motors"Enterprising"Not worse than a Ford at all.
As the most powerful military industrial enterprise in the United States, General Motors covers all aspects of the military industry, from guns and tanks to airplanes, and its core business is to build tanks.
In total, General Motors built 380,000 tanks and armored vehicles, including more than 40,000 Shermans, crushing all of Germany's tank production on the battlefield.
Will this ruin the German tank industry? Hearing this, the psychological shadow of the German tank designers must have lingered.
It can be seen that in the United States, after private enterprises entered the military field, the entire industrial chain was realized in a short time"** formula"Increase.
The United States completely crushed the Axis countries in shipbuilding, aircraft, tanks, and other military production, making the end of World War II obvious.
After the end of World War II, the U.S. industry began to be professionally oriented, and no longer arbitrarily switched from military to civilian as in the past.
The military industry is increasingly detached from civilian industry, and the gap between military and civilian is deepening.
At the same time, in order to seek economies of scale, U.S. industrial enterprises have also started a round of mergers and acquisitions.
Benchmark companies in private industry, such as Ford and General Motors, have withdrawn from military activities to concentrate on the civilian sector.
They were originally independent military-industrial enterprises, but through mergers and reorganizations, they were eventually integrated into several large military-industrial conglomerates, forming oligopolies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.
These military oligarchs have expanded outsourcing in order to reduce costs, handing over many important but non-essential activities to other companies, resulting in a serious hollowing out of the entire industrial chain.
Some basic components and raw materials are dependent on imports, and the related national industry has been hollowed out.
To make matters worse, these military-industrial complexes are also gradually separating R&D from production and moving factories abroad, leading to a massive loss of skilled local workers.
Key technologies are too dependent on foreign businessmen, and once this chain is broken, the entire military industrial system will be paralyzed.
Now, the military industry of the United States, whether you call it a military oligarchy, a military-industrial complex, or a military-industrial complex, is actually in a state of monopoly by a handful of giants.
This high degree of centralization has led to a lack of innovation and serious hollowing out of the military-industrial complex.
Compared to the diversification of the Second World War, the United States has lost the flexibility and adaptability of the past.
The current U.S. industry is still strong on the surface, but it has a red light.
Conducted in the United States"Industrial mapping"A strong dependence on the military-industrial system is revealed.
Specifically, the ** materials used in the advanced U.S. F-22 and F-35 fighter jets are highly dependent on rare earth materials imported from China.
The degree of dependence on this is more than 90%, and once ** is interrupted, the production chain of these two fighters will face a complete paralysis.
What humiliates the United States even more is that even the key components of drones used for the security of military bases are modified from civilian components imported from China.
Obviously, the United States has become heavily dependent on the chains of other countries.
This phenomenon is called"Self-emptying"。
The main reason is that the civilian industry in the United States is no longer capable of supporting the development of the military industry. Excessive separation of civilians and military has led to the hollowing out of the military industry.
This one from the United States"Industrial map"Actually, it's a slap in the face"Slap"。
When it was discovered that some important military components were dependent on imports, the first reaction of the United States was:"Shameless"。
Nowadays, the United States urgently needs to rebuild a complete civilian industrial system as a backing.
Otherwise, this kind"Masochistic"The hollowing out will be further intensified, eventually leading to the continued erosion of the entire military-industrial base by other emerging industrial powers.
Therefore, the biggest problem facing the United States today is not from the outside, but from the internal institutional gap.
The history of the United States industry can be said to be the epitome of glory and decline.
During World War II, the United States, with its strong industrial base, saw a first-class increase in its military production capacity.
Private companies such as Ford and General Motors quickly transformed into the military-industrial complex, which led to a significant lead in the military-industrial production of aircraft and tanks, contributing to the final victory of the Allies.
However, in order to pursue efficiency, the post-war American industrial enterprises carried out excessive mergers and specialized division of labor, which led to the hollowing out of military and civilian industries and industries.
The degree of dependence on foreign countries for basic technologies and components has increased dramatically, and once this chain is broken, the entire military-industrial system will face paralysis.
Today, the United States urgently needs to rebuild a complete civilian industrial system and reduce its dependence on foreign countries, otherwise the military industrial base will continue to be eroded.
The United States must have a new round"Self-revolution"to ensure that its military-industrial strength does not lag behind potential adversaries.