I wish we got as much for our defense dollars as the Chinese or the Russians... Instead we get failures like the F-35.
When it comes to unions, people tend to exaggerate.
In texas, a right to work state, there are three type shops. Union shops, Non-union shops, and wetback shops. If you need a home AC, the Trane is made in a union shop so it is slightly higher in price but you know that it was made by people with a lot of experience. OTOH, you can save a little money with the Janitrol since it is made in a wetback shop. But not much money. There is a lot more to the cost than just the labor.
Defense contractors in the manufacturing sector are always over-engineered, a non-union job.
Most people tend to look at unions as a monolithic group but there is a lot of variation amongst all the locals and usually in a particular shop, labor relations are actually driven by the steward in that shop.