Rebuilding US Arms Production - Can a new Strategy Restore the Arsenal of Democracy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqjvTKFufuk ^ | 4/14/2024 | Perun

[Chode]

Apr 14, 2024 During many major conflicts of the 20th century, the ability of the USA to pump out enormous amounts of defence materiel was a critical factor. In the lead up to WW2 the US would declare itself the 'arsenal of democracy'

But with the end of the Cold War came reductions and consolidation - and after the events of early 2022 the US, like many other nations, found itself eager to re-expand its defence industries to meet the demands of the war in Ukraine and changing global security environment.

That provided the context for the release of a defence industry strategy this year -- and today, we're going to talk about it.

[Chode]

weekly Perun...

[mass55th]

I’ve been saying for a while now, and have posted it here, that this country is not equipped to mass produce the military equipment it would need to participate in a sustained conflict. What we did in WWII will never be repeated today.

[desertsolitaire]

Simple to state. Not simple to do but should be done.
Outproduce Russia in artillery shells and fieldpieces. Out produce Russia in interceptor missiles for Patriot batteries and Iron Dome anti missile missiles. Massively outproduce Russia in armed drones of every kind. Enable Ukraine to launch massive numbers of drones to strike deep within Russia and overwhelm Russia’s ability to stop them.
Help supply Stormshadow and HIMARS missiles and artillery shells to Ukraine. Facilitate extra paid troops to fight in Ukraine against Russia.

[ealgeone]

The US and the industrial base we had in the 40s was a unique set of circumstances that will most likely never be repeated.

Even IF we were to re-industrialize, I don't see us being able to crank out 24 Ford class carriers in five years like we did with the Essex class carriers in WW2.

Not do I foresee the ability to crank out the 300k planes we did in WW2 in a four year run.

[rlmorel]

Just as massive an issue is the indoctrination of so many youth the notion that this country is not worth defending.

And they have baked that indoctrination into Leftist Public Schools, so it has been going on for decades, and is de rigueur now in learning at all levels.

I believe we can reconstitute industry. The only thing holding us back is the Left, and the willingness to work towards it. If there is money to be made, I believe people would engage to make it.

[mass55th]

You’re absolutely right.

[The Free Engineer]

You had me until “Enable Ukraine...”.
We should build weapons because may need weapons for ourselves. This should be done because we should be able to fight if we need to and to secure long term peace, not to reward hubris and graft and more of the same failed strategy.

[daniel1212]

How ridiculous was American production in World War 2? [full text and images at link]
Quora ^ | 2019 | Chris Morehouse

Posted on 11/12/2019, 8:47:32 PM by daniel1212

Chris Morehouse, Aerospace Engineer at U.S. Air Force (2017-present)

We can just put up a bunch of numbers, but I don’t think that gives a full appreciation of scale. So first let’s hit some specific examples.

The B-24

This is Willow Run. It was a B-24 plant built by Ford to mass produce the bomber. It ran its line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and produced a complete B-24 every 63 minutes on average. At peak, it produced 100 bombers in just two days.

This plant produced less than half of the total B-24s we built during the war.

That is just one plant, producing one type of aircraft. We had literally had thousand of plants like this, producing everything from tanks to field dressings.

The Liberty Ships

This is a Liberty Ship. It was a 14,000 ton cargo ship used for carrying essential war materials from the US to our allies and troops during WW2.

Let’s see how they come to be.

[see images at link )

Wait - where did you all come from?

America had 18 dry docks building Liberty Ships during WW2. Whereas typically riveted ships of the day took months to build, the Liberty Ships went from nothing to ready to launch in an average of 42 days in those dry docks. They were welded instead of riveted, and only built for a 5-year life span.

Forty-two days doesn’t seem very fast? Well I did say that was an average. The first Liberty ship took 230 days to complete. The fastest built ship took less than five days. That is a 14,000 ton ship from laying the keel to launch in less than five days.

We built 2,710 of these ships during the war.

The Sherman

Here we have the M4 Sherman Tank. This was a medium tank, and the primary tank of the US Army during the war. It has received a lot of criticism both then and now as being too light for the competition, having an undersized gun and the liability of a gas burning (instead of diesel) engine. For all that, it was still a very successful tank. One of its best features… it lent itself to mass production.

Above is the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant. This plant was built by Chrysler for the US Army and was the country's first government-owned, contractor-operated tank plant. Shown in the picture is the assembly of the M4A4 Sherman tanks.

This 113-acre plant built Lee, Sherman and Pershing tanks during the war and was only one of nine plants that built the Sherman. Between the nine plants, 49,234 Sherman tanks were built during the war, accounting for about half of the tanks the US produced during the war. Yeah, half again.

The Flat Tops

While we were building Liberty Ships as if we were breeding rabbits, we had to also build some fighting ships. To this end we built a whole bunch of shipyards.

Here we have a portion of the Boston Naval Yard in 1943. In the large slipway on the left you can see a monster of a ship. That would be the USS Iowa, a big-ass Battleship. We built eight battleships during WW2, and repaired several more that got a rough start at Pearl Harbor. But what I want to point out is the long flat guy in the center top. That is the USS Bunker Hill, an Essex Class Aircraft Carrier.

The Essex Class Carriers were a mainstay of the American Carrier Fleet. They were the Navy’s new wonder weapons, and the Navy could not possibly have enough of them. The Essex could carry 90–100 aircraft, had a crew of about 2600 and could take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

The Navy built 24 of these babies during WW2.

Here is the Bunker Hill right after being launched on December 7th 1942, exactly one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It joined the fleet as one new carrier out of the 141 Aircraft Carriers we would build during the war. No, that number is not a typo. The United States built and launched 141 Aircraft Carriers of all classes during the war. To protect them we built 498 escort ships (Corvettes and Frigates)

(Above: Buckley Class Destroyer Escort, 148 built) As well as 349 destroyers (Above: Fletcher Class Destroyer, 175 Built).

We can go on and on, but the fact of the matter is the US was one giant, war-material-producing machine during WW2. We easily out-produced every other participant in the conflict, and at the same time created an entire NEW industry which produced the first nuclear chain reaction, uranium enrichment infrastructure, plutonium production plants and atomic reactors and weapons. We literally invented a new industry while building all this other stuff, creating massive industrial plants for the various type of chemical and physical uranium enrichment processes, as well as testing and production facilities for the weapons themselves.

It is honestly hard to fully grasp the magnitude of the industrial might that was leveraged during the conflict. But hopefully this has given you some appreciation for the monumental effort put forth by American industry and the American people.
Excerpts. See article for more and images.

Thank God for those who served, and for those who enabled such production for the purpose of fighting evil empires. Yet now the Navy knows how to marry men with men, and thinks it is wise to have men and women work (etc.) together on subs, and all overall the military is committed to helping the enemies within, saluting the Leftist politically correct flag.

On her present course of war against God, the day will come when it is said, "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" (2 Samuel 1:27)

[mass55th]

"Just as massive an issue is the indoctrination of so many youth the notion that this country is not worth defending."

This country is screwed. It makes me glad that I'm on the tail-end of my life.

[Chode]

ping...

[mass55th]

Here's a link to a comment I posted here on April 11th. A while back I watched a British tv series about the war factories of WWII. It consists of three seasons. It is an excellent series. The episodes are available at one of the links I provided.

Most people don't think of what it takes to mass produce on a grand scale to fight, and win a war. This series shows how it was done:

War Factories

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- "...this country is not equipped to mass produce the military equipment it would need to participate in a sustained conflict. What we did in WWII will never be repeated today."

Among the many facets to the problem of re-industrialization are these: 1) the current stream of corrupt Leftists will require "green" rules, while 2) the current stream of corrupt Leftists will require "equity" in jobs all the while the unions will require highest possible wages, and 3) the current stream of corrupt Leftists will require political kickbacks from all those atop such a re-industrialization to the political Left.

By Leftists, I mean Democrats and RINOs. And as to an example of this, Solyndra -- Obama's "future of energy" went bankrupt -- was followed by the next iteration, Proterra, which is also now bankrupt. And the Biden administration is granting billions to the same Solyndra operators now to "rinse and repeat" because "the future of energy."

As you said, "What we did in WWII will never be repeated today." Not without a complete overhaul of the political landscape of the United States today. It is far more likely that our bankrupt nation will follow in the steps of a Belgium. (Remember the Belgian Congo?) Or Britain. (Remember the British Empire?) And we watch France being further swept out of Africa.

[AndyJackson]

Help supply Stormshadow and HIMARS missiles and artillery shells to Ukraine.

Clearly you are a deep state shill. While we are worried about the best way to reestablish our own republican government for the wellbeing of the American people you are continuing to push your globalist forever war garbage.

[MinorityRepublican]

What we did in WWII will never be repeated today.

Few things first. Things were easier to manufacture back then. You could make a plane in a factory in one day.

We could make WWII era planes today. But they're obsolete.

[mass55th]

"It is far more likely that our bankrupt nation will follow in the steps of a Belgium. (Remember the Belgian Congo?) Or Britain. (Remember the British Empire?) And we watch France being further swept out of Africa."

I've lost any hope that this country is savable. Even if President Trump gets back into office for four years, they will fight against his policies, and do the same exact thing they did to him the last time. Four years will fly by as it always does, and we'll be right back where we are today. I'll be 77 in August, and at this point in my life, it's very hard for me not to believe that America is lost forever.

[AndyJackson]

Facilitate extra paid troops to fight in Ukraine against Russia

You really are an immoral war monger aren't you? A genuinue follower of the GWHW new world order, the Bush Cheney doctrine lets create peace in the middle east by fighing a string of unwinable wars without a clear objective or definition of what success would look like and how it can be achieved with American arms. Another proponent of open the US treasury and spread it around to create WAR! WAR! WAR!

Biden and his cronies are wrong because they utterly miss the point. The opposite of cluelessness is cluelessness. You are just the flip side of the same disease with the only difference being which group of incompetent psycopaths are running the whole place.

[FrozenAssets]

Okay let us just say that we could mass produce anything that works.
What is the point if it is going to be operated by drug addled, tattooed purple haired freaks with chrome plated snot hanging out of their noses who have had their “equipment” cut off?

[EnderWiggin1970]

You can’t be an arsenal of democracy when you don’t have a representative government yourself.

[mass55th]

"We could make WWII era planes today. But they're obsolete."

The more sophisticated war machinery has become over the years, the more it costs to produce them, and the individuals that invest in the military industrial complex have gotten richer, which is why we now have perpetual wars.

[mass55th]

"What is the point if it is going to be operated by drug addled, tattooed purple haired freaks with chrome plated snot hanging out of their noses who have had their “equipment” cut off?"

This country is indeed, in deep $hit.