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Military Self-Sufficiency Undermined by Outsourcing

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

The U.S. Army’s decision to award military contracts to overseas manufacturers highlights a disturbing “short-term” ideology and America’s growing dependence on foreign nations. On June 29, the United States Army announced it would spend $3 billion to purchase up to 352 UH-145 helicopters from Eurocopter, a subsidiary of European aerospace group eads (Agence France Presse, July 4). With this deal, Eurocopter, after decades of delivering to the U.S. government and commercial operators, has at last broken into the U.S. military market. This represents a “major shift in Pentagon procurement policies” (Los Angeles Times, July 31). This referred-to shift is essentially the promotion of short-term, cost-cutting, foreign-equipment purchases over the preservation of strategic domestic industry. Some argue that by purchasing slightly cheaper and/or arguably slightly superior foreign-made helicopters, the military gets more “bang for the buck” and therefore saves more money to be spent elsewhere on other military needs, thus making the nation militarily stronger. But promoting military equipment purchases based on expense while sacrificing national self-sufficiency in matters of defense neglects greater long-term dangers associated with becoming reliant on off-shore producers to supply the essential needs of the nation. During the War of Independence, America learned the painful lesson of dependence on foreign nations: Because of a lack of manufacturing, the U.S. had to rely on France and the Netherlands to supply everything from guns and gunpowder to blankets and clothing, and Britain routinely cut America’s supply lines. Seeing this weakness, America’s founders implemented a national strategy promoting industrial and military self-sufficiency in order to enhance the nation’s security. It seems America has forgotten that lesson. America’s leaders have allowed the nation’s manufacturing base to erode. Many manufacturers—including some that are strategically important for the military—have gone bankrupt or been bought out; others have moved overseas where manufacturing costs are cheaper. The U.S. Defense Department runs a program called the Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Materials Shortage (dmsms), whose purpose is to identify shortages of basic parts, processes and materials needed in the military. Brian Suma, who runs the dmsms Information Systems project at the Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, says this concerning the eroding U.S. industrial base: “We’re out here stomping on the grass to put out a grass fire but we haven’t looked behind us to see that the barn has gone up” (Manufacturing & Technology News, “Eroding Industrial Base Raises Concern Deep Within the Military,” Nov. 19, 2004). One strategically important industry that has almost completely died in America is that of the metal castings industry. The problem has become so pronounced that, as reported by columnist Diane Grassi, the military even has trouble procuring weapon-system castings (attributed to plant closings). China and other Third World countries are now the major suppliers of castings for the U.S. military. Ms. Grassi also pointed out that there is now only one company left in the U.S. that manufactures roller cutters for armored plate or heavy steel, and the only reason this company exists is that when the U.S. military learned that there was an immediate need (due to the war in Iraq) for Humvee armor, it expedited its manufacture. Because of the limited existing manufacturing capability, however, it took almost a year to get the armor plate produced. Similarly, America’s only remaining company that produced a chemical used for binding windows and aluminum panels in aircraft was purchased by a foreign corporation. Due to failure to meet U.S. environmental and health standards, the American plant was forced to close. Now the U.S. must depend on the foreign company’s offshore factories to supply the chemical (Sierra Times, February 9). The disappearing bearing industry might be an even worse loss for American security. Bearings are critical components of all kinds of electric motors used in automobile manufacturing, mining, factories and so on. They are also critical components of major weapons systems. According to the Bearing Specialists Association, if America’s bearing manufacturers continue to close up shop and move overseas, the U.S. will have an unavoidable foreign dependency (Industrial Distribution, May 1, 2005). This is a critical national security issue, because nations that do not agree with America’s foreign policy would have the ability to cut America’s bearing supply in time of emergency. During World War ii, bearings were considered so important that the German bearing industry was specifically targeted for bombing. America’s focus on short-term results has caused the nation to disregard the importance of self-sufficiency. Sadly, short-term thinking saturates all levels of American society: Individuals seek instant gratification, buying now and paying later; publicly listed corporations think in terms of quarterly results; politicians think in terms of election cycles. Now, defense planners make equipment orders based solely upon maximizing “bang for the buck.” The full consequences of this short-term thinking may not be felt in times of peace and prosperity, but inevitably, when crises arise—and they always do—such neglect may prove fatal. The failure to learn from history is sapping America’s self-sufficiency and draining the country’s industrial life-blood. Eventually it will threaten America itself. For information pertaining to America’s escalating fall from superpower status, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy.