As noted by military analyst William Hartung, the US defense complex has fallen into a "death spiral" in recent years. What is important to understand is that defense spending is skyrocketing, while the actual number of weapons is steadily shrinking.
Points of attention
- The U.S. Army has half as many combat aircraft and ships as in the past, without ensuring the combat effectiveness of new weapons.
- The way out of the "death spiral" for the US Army may be the production of simpler and more affordable weapons or the limitation of military doctrine.
- Expert William Hartung supports the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but there is one "but".
The US Army has outsmarted itself
What is important to understand is that the "defensive death spiral" is not a new phenomenon. It was first actively discussed more than 40 years ago.
First of all, it is about the fact that each subsequent generation of weapons purchased by the US Department of Defense is more complex and more expensive than the previous one. Against this background, the American armed forces are constantly being reduced in the process of their modernization.
Even though the Pentagon's current budget, even adjusted for inflation, is 60% larger than it was in the 1970s, the US military today has half as many combat aircraft and ships as it did back then. At the same time, there are no guarantees that the combined combat effectiveness of new weapons will be equivalent to a larger number of old weapons.
Analyst William Hartung points out that the United States is currently at a "disadvantage" even when it comes to confronting the Yemeni Houthis.
According to him, the American forces are forced to shoot down the primitive and cheap missiles of the Houthis with the help of advanced but expensive American interceptor missiles.
Considering the fact that the USA has expensive and state-of-the-art weapons, they are not too willing to share them with allies, for example with Ukraine.
How the US can get out of the "death spiral"
According to the expert, the United States has two potential solutions for getting out of the "death spiral".
produce more simple and cheap weapons that are sufficient for most tasks.
to limit American military doctrine, according to which the US military must be able to wage wars anywhere on the planet, and to arm several allies to wage wars.
We need a firmer, more restrained approach to when it is in the US interest to use force or send weapons into a war zone, William Hartung emphasized.
Interestingly, Hartung considers the supply of weapons to Ukraine to be the right approach to the matter and approves of this strategy of Washington.
Despite this, he is inclined to the opinion that a complete victory is beyond the power of any of the sides, therefore he calls for "urgent" diplomatic options to end the war.
