"Just won't build": The defense will not enlarge the US Army - WSJ

But what looks like a draw will soon be a victory for China, because they have more defensive plants. About it reports The Wall Street Journal. The Center for Strategic and International Research has modeled Bargeim between the United States and China for Taiwan. One of the scenarios ended with Taiwan remained free, but the states lose 2 aircraft carriers and up to 20 destroyers and cruisers. The Chinese would lose 50 big ships.

According to the naval analyst of the budgetary administration of Congress Eric Labs, what initially looks like a draw can pour in the victory of China. They are able to replace lost ships much faster than the US. In the last 2 years, the PRC has built 17 cruisers and minorists in the last 2 years. The United States would take at least 6 years. "From the point of view of industrial competition and shipbuilding, China is in the place where the United States was in the early stages of World War II.

Now we simply do not have industrial capacity to build warships . . . in large numbers and very quickly," Eric explains. In the world, tension from the Pacific to Ukraine and the Middle East increases. Therefore, there was a discussion in the States whether they can afford a larger army, and more importantly, whether they can build it in such competition by the PRC. Currently, defense costs are some of the lowest of World War II and are less than 4. 6% of GDP.

At the same time, during the war in Vietnam, the United States spent 8. 9% of GDP. It is now necessary for the states to build one atomic submarine for more than a year, the doubling of the production of Javelin PTRC is postponed by 2026, and the Harpoon anti -ship missiles will be delivered to Taiwan no earlier than 2026 - this was despite the fact that they were ordered in 2020.

The defensive contractors refused to maintain additional capacity after the Cold War, as the Pentagon pushed to consolidate. Now it is not possible to increase production sharply. "Few people expected the long, large -scale conflict that we are watching in Ukraine, or which we can see again against a strategic competitor.

We learn how much a resource -intensive type of war is not working to reduce production capacity and supply" on request, "William Laplant said, said Pentagon's chief officials official. And the situation is more than serious, journalists write. All US production base has decreased because labor -intensive production was transferred to Eastern Asia. There are also few specialists now, and the defense industry requires longer training time. Submarines need 3-5 years.