Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges

[-]

thr0wnb0ne@reddit

traditionally they got money for war but canr feed the poor. you know shits really fucked when they aint even got money for war no more. tho this is likely propaganda aimed at the axis of resistance to make rhem think we're unprepared for the fight

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

Wait until you learn that our Navy is the reason why you can buy a smartphone for so cheap.

Every single American is benefitted greatly by globalism. Isolationalism would require a decrease quality of life. Plain and simple. If you don't see it you don't understand how the materials are sourced for nearly every object you ever bought.

America's insurance of the world trade with its navy makes this all possible.

[-]

thr0wnb0ne@reddit

''america's global monopoly on violence enforces a version of society where people are required to have smartphones''

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

And if China gets the monopoly, they will just cease that version of society while letting us keep the perks?

Be realistic. But your American, isolationalism works against you.

If your seriously arguing for dismantling of modernity, then thats a whole nother level of lack of self awareness I don't wish to go into.

[-]

thr0wnb0ne@reddit

china doesnt want global monopoly, being realistic means actually listening to what BRICS is saying. they have been saying for quite a while now that they want a rules based, multi-nodal, mutually co operative world order. china wants monopoly on violence in china and in fact their recent border agreement with india is incredible evidence of this

it is clearly the pentagon pushing mutually assured destruction when the the axis of resistance are practically begging for mutually assured prosperity instead.

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

My ex wife grew up in mainland China. They tech them young in school they will destroy America.

[-]

LudovicoSpecs@reddit

Or propaganda aimed at American taxpayers so the next time Congress unanimously approves the new record-breaking military budget, the folks who can't afford healthcare or school lunches won't blink.

[-]

thr0wnb0ne@reddit

¿pero por que no los dos?

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

It's weird. The article starts with the assertion that we are low on missiles but never really gives a source for that information but does go on to say:

The Defense Department says it doesn’t publicly disclose its stockpiles because the information is classified and could be leveraged by Iran and its proxies.

And

The company declined to comment on its production capacity, but RTX spokesman Chris Johnson said, “We work closely with the Department of Defense to meet their production needs for Standard Missiles.”

The concerning part is how much profit plays a role in our defense. Like we don't give these companies enough money already. There stock has almost doubled in the last year.

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/rtx

[-]

devadander23@reddit

Profit-for-defense is the reason we have the military we do.

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

One that apparently is under armed?

Maybe we should fix that for profit part. These companies get American tax payer money to do research that eventually makes a product that gets bought by the government and paid for by American tax papers and then a commercial version eventually comes out for civilians which we also have to pay for and the company just gets more and more profits.

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

They apparently design weapons so that they will need a lot of maintenance by the same company. those long term maintenance contracts are where the money is.

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Yeah I niced that when I was reading up on one of their contracts.

Valued at $254.5 million, the contract is expected to be completed by September 2029. Per the terms of the deal, RTX will provide depot, intermediate level repair and maintenance for Standard Missile. It will also procure provisioned items and ordered spares, and test equipment for the Standard Missile.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rtx-secures-255m-contract-support-150500113.html

They are like Taylor (company that makes McFlurry machines). Make more money on fixing them. Although I guess the right to repair law is changing that. Probably not the case for defense contractors though.

https://www.chowhound.com/1699397/ruling-mcdonalds-mcflurry-machines/

[-]

RonBach1102@reddit

There is a commercial version of a missile? How much?

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Missiles are the only thing defense contractors research and build? Or are you being purposefully ignorant?

[-]

RonBach1102@reddit

Missiles are what the article is talking about. Sorry you don’t understand sarcasm tho.

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

No it's not

Profit-for-defense

Is what the current topic of this single comment thread is.

[-]

daviddjg0033@reddit

RTX has high demand because the weapons work better than any Russian made weaponry. Note that the continent of Europe wants new US military weapons after seeing the shitshow Russia is.

[-]

devadander23@reddit

This isn’t much more than a ‘ramp up production’ article. This isn’t a concern

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Right but as the article says:

Increasing production of weapons has proved difficult for the Pentagon, since it often requires that companies open new production lines, expand facilities and hire additional workers. Companies are often reluctant to invest in that expansion without knowing that the Pentagon is committing to buying at increased levels over the long term.

Hence my comment about profits being a huge downfall for actual defense. They don't want to "ramp up production" unless they know there will be a long term increase, otherwise it's not worth the risk to their share holders.

[-]

DistrictStriking9280@reddit

How would it work for a non-profit manufacturer? They still need to get the money to pay off the increases. Or a government manufacturer? The government isn’t likely to invest the required money for just a short term surge. If they are willing to throw that money away to pay for the increases required for a surge, they can throw that money at industry, too. Industry doesn’t want to risk their investment, but they don’t care if it gets paid off by a long term contract, or a short one.

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Well if the government won't invest the required money for a short term surge...and private industry won't take the risk or invest in a manufacturing line for a short term surge...then what? It just doesn't get filled? Seems like the government should be making it's own weapons and not outsourcing to a private company that needs to generate maximum profit for the shareholders.

[-]

DistrictStriking9280@reddit

So now military-related industries should be nationalized? And to which degree? If the steel industry won’t make investments for short-term increased production that isn’t financially viable do we nationalize them too?

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Frankly all industry should be "nationalized"...or communized.

[-]

DistrictStriking9280@reddit

If the military doesn’t have enough munitions, whose fault is that? Unless a manufacturer has failed to meet their production quotas under a contract, they aren’t the once who failed to do their job.

[-]

joeg26reddit@reddit

Right. Still waiting for the civilian air to air missile

[-]

LudovicoSpecs@reddit

Profit-for-defense is also a big reason we have wars.

[-]

devadander23@reddit

And also the reason we haven’t had world wars.

[-]

smexypelican@reddit

+58% is very good, but not "almost doubled."

RTX is also made up of about half commercial, half old Raytheon defense. People may not know this, but the defense contracts have a limit on how much the companies can profit at around 10%. It's why you see most defense companies having around that profit margin. I don't know the details with RTX and don't care enough to read into their financial reports, but I bet the defense booming growth is only like 7% year over year or something, and that's already huge.

And there is the same thing with any production line, you don't want to just ramp up production capacity and then run out of work and having to pay people off, so forecasting is very important... and our government is probably not great at this, due to how our budget is run basically year-to-year, on top of it being an election year. During peace time we didn't need as many missiles, but now we do, but production capacity can't just surge and tank suddenly. Think about it, that would mean hiring and training people, then in a few years having to let them go and pay severance, and eat the cost of empty facilities.

[-]

Throwaway_accound69@reddit

I was gonna say that's the Military Industrial Complex, basically telling Congress to funnel more money for missiles

[-]

Vegetaman916@reddit

Are we starting to see why these little wars were started in the first place?

https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/s/ZImUp4YCSI

From the very beginning, this has been about disrupting global economy and draining western resources in advance of the real ww3 kickoff.

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

Yup, but I think the brilliance of the chips act may have stalled China's ability to join in on the Russian plan. Which is why they are sending arms through there proxy of north Korea.

I can't stand politicians who have good things to say about Putin. Like he doesn't want wants best for us, I promise you. And likely conspiring the downfall of the US. I mean if you watch their media (shout-out to Russian media monitor by Julia Davis on YouTube) they talk about this plan openly.

[-]

syynapt1k@reddit

So make more? It's not like the world is posturing for a war or anything.

[-]

Midnight2012@reddit

Hell yeah, The entire world is arming up to the teeth right now, and people are skeptical of this shit? Do people not pay attention to geopolitics?

[-]

Nothereforstuff123@reddit

With what industrial capacity?

[-]

decidedlycynical@reddit

Well, if they’d quit selling them to the Ukraine and Israel, maybe the problem would be solved.

[-]

alternative5@reddit

Based, more American jobs and more money invested in American companies to pump out these air defense assets out for ourselves and our allies.

[-]

Joshistotle@reddit

Weak point. It's a laundering operation. The guys at the top have major stakes (money) in the defense contractors and profit every time taxpayer funds are directed towards those companies or companies in related defense services industries.

[-]

ProfessionalCreme119@reddit

I like the fact none of the wars going on are the US is all but it's still focused money laundering operation.

This is a good example I can't wait for losing. If we send our military around the world it's bad. We send our Air Force anywhere it's bad. We can't even keep our military at home while selling weapons to foreign countries. Anything that ever happens it's just bad.

Isolationism and nationalism is just bad. We did that before and over 100 million people died over a 30-year period. That's not going to happen again

[-]

crash______says@reddit

Amen and 100%. Build a new plant in a state where it won't get wound up in unending environmental impact studies (like mine! TX) and lets make American Weapons Great Again.

Unfortunately, the procurement process since before Vietnam has been plagued by profiteering losers sabotaging our front-line warfighters for their own corrupt gains.

[-]

alternative5@reddit

Fuck man we are the United States of America, we can both protect the environment for us our kids and our grandkids to enjoy while at the same time building weapons for our use and our close allies use.

[-]

crash______says@reddit

You make a mistake thinking environmental impact studies are there to protect the environment.

[-]

Jaralto@reddit

What are some examples of it not being that? Just NIMBY stuff?

[-]

crash______says@reddit

Enjoy

[-]

Jaralto@reddit

Ok good read thanks. Like all things it sounds like the solution is in the middle and not one vs the other. Idk though I'm a chef lol.

[-]

crash______says@reddit

Yup, the solution to almost every major problem in the US democracy is the application of the actual law by people who are not captured by corruption or partisanship... which is why this will never pass.

[-]

Docrobert8425@reddit

Good reform? In our government? In 2024?

Yeah, we have a better chance of aliens coming to visit than any decent, let alone good, reform to pass on any subject, especially defense.

[-]

crash______says@reddit

Sadly true.

[-]

therapistofcats@reddit

Or better yet use one of the many already vacant facilities and save the money.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/194081/us-industrial-vacancy-rate-forecasts-from-2010/

[-]

crash______says@reddit

Even better.

[-]

dnhs47@reddit

“The U.S. has launched more than 100 Standard Missiles since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, the U.S. officials said.”

“RTX, producer of the Standard Missiles, can make a maximum of a few hundred a year, a U.S. defense official said. That production, however, isn’t all for the Pentagon, since at least 14 allies also buy Standard Missiles, according to RTX.”

So every year “a few hundred”SMs are produced, and “more than 100” have been used since Oct 2023.

That 2 years of “a few hundred” being produced versus 100 being used. Yet somehow we’re “running low.”

Quite a hype piece. That’s pretty disappointing coming from the once-reliable WSJ.

[-]

NicodemusV@reddit

lol if we are running out of missiles just because of some low intensity conflicts in the Middle East then imagine what will happen when it kicks off in Taiwan.

Procurement of missiles is, in fact, public data.

It’s funny how this is seen as just begging for money.

The average American is clueless about their own military.

[-]