I'm curious about this as well. And something else to consider...
Building an M4 Sherman and building an M1 Abrams are not the same thing. Due to its mutitude of advanced components, especially its armor and optics, an Abrams takes longer to manufacture from start to finish. How much longer, I'd love to know. This is doubly true of aircraft and ships.
So, how many advanced weapon systems could the U.S. crank out in the eventuallity of a full-scale conventional war? I think it's safe to say that the numbers would be significantly lower than the output during WWII but, again, how much lower?
I know that over the past couple of decades, and maybe even prior, that the U.S. has closed a large number of major shipyards because it couldn't complete with lower cost producers like South Korea. I can't see the U.S. cranking out a carrier a week like they did with the Essex class in the later years of WWII. Could the U.S. even keep up with combat losses during the last decade of the Cold War?
How about now? To bring this to the present day, I'm really worried about how the U.S. would able to keep up with its rivals (read Russia and China) in the event of a conventional WWIII. An F-22 is a fearsome beast, but they cost a ton and take a while to build. I fear that the U.S. has lost the production advantage that we had during the last World War.
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