The Fading U.S. Weapons Industry

Outgunned: assembling Rafale fighter jets near Bordeaux, France. (Reuters / Regis Duvignan)

Arms Away: How Washington Squandered Its Monopoly on Weapons Sales -- Jonathan Caverley and Ethan B. Kapstein, Foreign Affairs

Over the last two decades, the United States has enjoyed an unrivaled competitive advantage in the production and export of advanced conventional weaponry. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of the Warsaw Pact led to sharp reductions in Russian defense spending and a drop in Moscow's arms transfers to regional allies. Simultaneously, globalization rewarded firms with economies of scale, allowing U.S. defense contractors to capitalize on their size and on large orders from armed forces around the globe. The formula for success was simple: by producing a range of affordable yet sophisticated weapons, the Pentagon and its contractors would crush any rivals. Domination of the global arms trade, and the economic and geopolitical benefits that came with it, was the United States' to lose.

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My Comment: These writers rip into the F-35 program .... and for good cause. There is a lot of "red-meat" in this article as well as some astounding revelations .... if you are a subscriber to Foreign Affairs, read it all.