Today the USA is a state, spends more on defense than any country in the world. AT 2018 year, the United States spent more than 700 billions of dollars. for comparison: Russian defense budget for 2018 year experts estimate in 51,6 billion (7 place in the world). country, which can afford such large military expenses, rightly can claim a leading position in the field of military-industrial production. However, our "sworn friends" also have problems, and in the military-industrial complex they are quite serious, what Americans themselves are ready to talk openly about.
In accordance with the requirements of certain federal laws and the provisions of the Department of Defense guidelines for the "Military Industrial Base Assessment", An in-depth report, Industry Opportunities, is published annually in the United States (INDUSTRIAL CAPABILITIES), materials are prepared for familiarization of senators and members of the House of Representatives of Congress. The Department of Industrial Policy is responsible for the preparation of the analytical report. (Office of Industrial Policy, INDPOL), part of the US Department of Defense. On 132 pages of the report, which anyone can see (the document is made public), contains information about the state of the American military-industrial complex, including the problems and bottlenecks of the defense industry.
US military-industrial complex big six
As a single system, constantly working to strengthen the military power of the United States, The American military-industrial complex was finally formed in the middle of the 20th century. It was in the second half of the 1950s that the US military-industrial complex organically united the interests of the defense department, industrial enterprises and numerous scientific and research centers. In the future, this allowed the American top leadership to simultaneously solve a wide range of military tasks against the backdrop of a long arms race with the Soviet Union..
Over time, several of the largest manufacturers have formed in the United States., working with military orders. Leading industrial corporations of the country have taken a leading position in the production of weapons and military equipment for the ground forces, BBC, Navy and nuclear triad. The defense sector of the American economy employs at least 28 thousands of different companies, but the main contractors of the Pentagon, which account for 2/3 all US military orders, are the companies of the so-called "Big Six". Six pillars of the American military-industrial complex are Lockheed Martin corporations, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics и BAE Systems. The rest of the companies are built into the pyramid of subcontractors, which has five hierarchical levels. In most cases, they are subcontractors of the six corporations listed above..
In fact, this leads to, that there is practically no competition in the domestic arms market in the United States, which made the country one of the world's economic leaders. Lack of competition in the military-industrial complex negatively affects the quality of military products, and also causes an increase in the cost of manufactured products and an increase in the timing of the supply of weapons and equipment. At the same time, modern trends in the development of weapons production, military and special equipment are forcing even the main suppliers of the Pentagon to reduce investment in the development of their own military units, directing significant financial resources to expand the production of civilian products. At the same time, the final volumes of needs for armaments and military equipment, set by the Pentagon, caused the start of numerous processes of mergers and acquisitions of military enterprises, which was the reason for the maximum consolidation of defense assets in the hands of an extremely limited number of companies, working in the military-industrial complex.
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Single supplier problem
The production of many weapon components is concentrated in small enterprises of the lowest fifth level.. The presence of such a hierarchical structure sometimes leads to paradoxical situations., presented in the report. For example, a few years ago the company, engaged in the production of one of the parts for the voltage switch in missile abort systems and ignition devices, was acquired by another company, which just closed the release of this part. The Pentagon learned about the end of production only two years later, after which the military hastily had to look for a replacement on the market and decide on a new supplier. A similar situation happened with chemical suppliers., necessary for the operation of solid rocket engines.
In general, the consolidation of production and the presence of one or two suppliers is a common thing for the US military-industrial complex.. So over the past decades, the rocket technology production sector has been significantly consolidated.. Currently, in the United States, two of the top five missile suppliers account for 97 percent of funding for missile purchases and only two US suppliers are able to produce solid rocket motors, installed on most modern missile systems.
A similar situation in the market for the production of armored vehicles. Today, more than 80 percent of armored military equipment in the United States for the needs of the ground forces and the Marine Corps is produced by the only assembly plant. At the same time, all barrels of large-caliber artillery guns, mortars and howitzers are produced at a single enterprise. Their production is concentrated on one arsenal, as required by law and modern industrial policy of the Ministry of Defense.
The situation is similar with the construction of ships for the navy.. Four American companies control seven major shipyards, on which warships for the US Navy can be assembled. The only shipyard, which can build modern nuclear aircraft carriers, is Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding, the shipyard is located in Newport, Virginia. In theory, here it would be possible to assemble three aircraft carrier hulls at once, but two places are usually occupied by the overhaul and maintenance of existing nuclear aircraft carriers of the American fleet. With a fairly stable position in the international market for the export of military products, The US is sinking in some directions. The biggest problems are connected with shipbuilding and the supply of warships.. US market share of naval exports has fallen sharply: from 63 percent in 2007 godu to 17 percent in 2017 year, according to the report of the Office of Industrial Policy.
The problem with personnel in the US military-industrial complex
It is worth noting, that the collapse of the USSR did not benefit the American defense industry. Disappearance of a serious geopolitical adversary, ending the Cold War and reducing the likelihood of a major military conflict, could not but affect American spending on the acquisition of weapons and military equipment, as well as defense research. This also affects the labor force., employed in the defense industry. The reduction in the number of workers in the military-industrial complex is the result of not only a wide process of industrial automation, seen today in many industries, but also a significant reduction in the volumes of military production themselves. According to data published in May 2019 years of the INDPOL report, 1,6 million American citizens work in factories, related to the fulfillment of defense orders, this amounts to 1,3 percentage of workers, employed in the private sector of the economy.
The question of the labor force in industry, including in the military-industrial complex, its quality and qualifications is quite acute. According to statistical estimates, which were published in the report of the Office of Industrial Policy, since 2018 by 2026 year number of specialists in areas such as welding, assembly of metal structures, casting can be reduced by 6-17 percent, this is especially critical for shipbuilding, noted in the report. For military-industrial complex enterprises, this can become a serious problem along with the aging of personnel and the lack of the necessary skills to design new types of weapons and military equipment..
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It is worth noting, that a common problem for many branches of the American military-industrial complex is the aging of personnel and the lack of the necessary skill level, primarily in the creation of new military equipment for the ground forces. This is most clearly manifested in the example of the creation of tracked military equipment.. At one time, the path was chosen in the USA, involving a phased modernization of existing weapons systems, their technological and constructive improvement. Due to this, it is possible to maintain the viability of obsolete projects for a long time.. US main battle tank - M1A1 / M1A2 Abrams is serially produced with 1980 of the year. Politics, aimed at applying elements of new technologies to obsolete projects or modernizing and modifying existing weapons systems, allows you to postpone the implementation of expensive programs to create new types of weapons. Ultimately, this resulted in, that several generations of engineers and scientists have grown up in the United States today, who were not involved in the creation of new types of tanks, they lack development experience, design and construction of new combat vehicles.
In the same time, despite all the problems, of which there are really many in the US military-industrial complex, it continues to be one of the most developed in the world, allowing the country to confidently hold a leading position in the export of arms and military equipment. But in the near future, the US military-industrial complex may face various problems.. For example, in that case, if for some reason a country needs to quickly increase the production of certain types of weapons and military equipment, it will be very hard to do. In fact, at present, the American military-industrial complex is operating at the permissible limit of its capabilities. In the future, he will have to compete in the international market with new players, first of all with China, whose fleet has already overtaken the United States in the number of warships. In order to maintain a leading position in the global arms market, the American military-industrial complex will have to change and improve.
Sergey Yuferev
