The best news this week was that Congress finally passed the desperately needed foreign aid package for Ukraine and Taiwan. This includes unnecessarily delayed DPICM and ATACMS. Now it’s up to Ukraine to fix their manpower and military leadership issues.
In other Taiwan adjacent news, the PLA essentially split the Strategic Support Force, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Space Force, into three separate joint functional commands. It’s not clear yet why, but I think this is another expression of Xi’s need to centralize command and control. Three stovepiped commands will not be as effective as coordinating information, cyber, and space as the now departed Strategic Support Force.
I am confused. “ The Arsenal of Democracy fires back up.” I think that is a stretch in light of our manufacturing impotence, shipping building and repair weakness and our weapon platform lead times. Our current active duty military forces are a fraction of what is truly needed with no chance of reversing that negative trends over the next 5-10 years and recruiting is falling short year after year despite increased appeals to those traditionally averse to military service. Our recruiting standards continue to fall. I would welcome a positive trend. Can you provide one?
Congressional funding for Ukraine remaining and accounting fraud with the delivery of surplus weaponry billed at the original purchase price or replacement cost of newer versions. We have failed to provide a single aircraft, no long range or heavy artillery or heavy artillery ammunition, a mere 31 export model tanks…. In short, few things of true value. An analogy might be M&Ms and Gatoraid to the starving. Two years into this war our support serves the purpose we want: stalemate and negotiation or out right defeat to Russia. For shame, for shame.
And I thought I was a pathological optimist, sell this developers dream to Blackrock and JP Morgan Chase investment committees and see far you get…they will go to the last slide in your slide deck, see there is a negative return on investment, smile and politely thank you for your time….as you walk down the guilded corridors to the elevator bank, you will indeed hear howls of laughter…