War Industries & Mobilization for Total War in T2k

[Raellus]

Raytheon recently reported that there will be a delay in producing any new Stinger MANPADS (IIRC, the final Stinger was delivered to the US Army 18 years ago) for Ukraine. The reason sited is the lack of availability of components due, in part, to the "global supply chain crisis".

T2k posits a "missile drought" after the TDM, as nations are no longer capable of producing high tech weapons. Real Life seems to suggest that such a missile drought would probably start earlier, as the war disrupts international trade. Also, the sheer scale of WW3 would result in increased consumption. If Ukraine has used 5,000 Javelins since the war started a few months ago, imagine how many TOW IIs, Hellfires, and Milans would be used in the first few months of global, total war.

It's not just supply chain issues. The complexity of high tech modern weapons means large-scale, mass production of same is difficult and problematic. I've long held that "modern" weapons (c. 1980-today) would be near impossible to produce on the same scale as they were during WW2. For example, an F-117 Nighthawk is orders of magnitude more complicated than a P-47 Lightening. This is true in spite of advances in manufacturing (more automation) since WW2.

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