Katerina Schwartz10:31, 01/03/24

Modern weapons are extremely complex and often require thousands of parts. For example, it takes two years to manufacture one NASAMS rocket system.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has exposed the West’s shortcomings in quickly producing more weapons when needed, The Wall Street Journal writes .

For example, it takes two years to manufacture one NASAMS missile system that protects the airspace above the White House. And now, due to the growing number of potential threats to the West, including Russia and China, the demand for them has also increased sharply, orders are piling up every now and then.

“I have never seen such great demand,” said Eirik Lee, president of the defense division of the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace.

According to the WSJ, the main problem with not being able to meet this demand faster is that modern weapons are extremely complex and often require thousands of parts.

“Kongsberg, like most Western defense companies, designs and assembles its weapons systems, but does not manufacture most of the components. More than 1,500 suppliers contribute to the plant’s products. The NASAMS supply chain alone consists of more than a thousand companies and is built on two continents together with American defense contractor RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies,” the publication said.

In addition, it is indicated that the defense industry is also facing a prolonged labor shortage.

According to military analysts, despite higher defense budgets, the West has not faced the same restrictions on arms supplies since the Korean War:

“The ten largest Western defense companies alone now have order books worth more than $730 billion, up about 57% from late 2017, when demand began to pick up.”

Weapons shortage in the West – reasons

Meanwhile, leading U.S. and NATO officials have increasingly expressed concern that the weapons shortage will impact their military capabilities.

It is noted that in a war game model published in early 2023 of how the United States would respond to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that America would run out of critical long-range anti-ship missiles within the first week. And the United States will not be able to quickly replenish its reserves: as in the case of NASAMS, it takes about two years to manufacture each such rocket.

There are also long delays in the delivery of other weapons, including F-35 fighter jets, new training and refueling aircraft, as well as the latest US aircraft carriers, the newspaper writes.

Much of the West’s ability to produce weapons, especially in Europe, has been undermined by post-Cold War defense budget cuts and gradual deindustrialization. Defense consultant Nicholas Drummond cited the example of German companies that, at the height of the Cold War, could produce up to 400 tanks a year, but now produce only up to 50 a year.

As the WSJ writes, modern weapons take longer to produce and cost more money, all of which limits supplies and extends their replenishment over time.

Russia and China are ahead of the West

It is also noted that Russia and China are ahead of the United States and Europe in some missile defense systems. The countries have hypersonic missiles, and the U.S. deployment of the first has been pushed back to 2024 because of testing failures, Pentagon officials said. American and European hypersonic missile defense systems will not enter service for at least 10 years, WSJ adds.

Russia and China together have about 5,020 ground-launched surface-to-air missile systems, compared with about 3,200 in service with the United States, Europe and Japan combined, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Defense companies in China and Russia are largely state-owned, so they are less susceptible to commercial pressure and have extensive domestic supply chains. As a result, for example, analysts estimate that China’s stockpile has grown from a few conventional ballistic missiles in 1996 to more than 3,000 ballistic and cruise missiles.

Weapons shortage – what measures is the West taking?

For the West, the challenge of supporting allies fighting separate global conflicts is further constraining supplies, increasing demand for some weapons systems, especially artillery shells and missile defense, Pentagon officials say.

That’s why most Western defense companies are now actively increasing their capacity (especially in the production of shells and missiles). In particular, the US government is investing in its domestic base and bringing production of sensitive components such as microchips home.

The Pentagon intends to roll out a new industrial base strategy in the coming weeks that will help clear supply chain bottlenecks. American defense giants, along with foreign partners, are also increasingly building overseas, including missiles, as a way to expand systems capabilities. And Norway’s Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace is building up stockpiles of key components to cope with the risk of supply chain disruption.

(C)UNIAN 2024