The case for weapons made here at home – Not in far flung France

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

By the late 1970s, the U.S military seemed to be in decline. The war in Vietnam had demoralized the troops, and there was a shortage of equipment as well. Even worse, our leaders seemed ready to accept decline.

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter’s cabinet members went around the country preaching the importance of accepting limitations. For example, in July, “in a direct challenge to a Republican campaign platform that calls for U.S. military superiority over the Soviet Union, Defense Secretary Harold Brown said yesterday that such a notion is both militarily and economically impossible.”

But Americans were not willing to throw in the towel. They knew that superiority was both necessary and achievable. President Reagan’s buildup invested in our weapons supply chain throughout the 1980s. It protected the U.S. and defeated the Soviet Union without needing to fire a shot.

Today, our country faces different enemies, but the underlying challenge is the same: We need to maintain our military edge over any potential foes. The best way to do that is by supporting American suppliers through buying weapons designed here and made here by American companies.

Some, however, are pushing to outsource a critical segment of our defenses: the building of tanker jets. Tankers are an American invention and have allowed our military to project power anywhere in the world for decades. But many of the tankers in service now are themselves decades old, so the Pentagon is rolling out the KC-46 (known as Pegasus), with 76 of the American-made jets now in service and more on the way.

But a French company wants part of the tanker contract. A spokesman says its design, based on a European plane, “is a reliable choice for the U.S. Air Force; one that will deliver affordability, proven performance and unmatched capabilities.”

There are several problems with this approach. First, the Airbus design is not as good. It would be larger than the Pegasus, but that means it would be more difficult to handle on shorter runways. It would have different controls, so pilots would need to train on it for thousands of hours. It would use different parts, so mechanics would need to learn how to maintain it, while the military would have to stock all those replacement parts. Both of these would be costly and inefficient.

Also, consider that taxpayers are already paying for the Pegasus, which is in the air and doing the job now. That version of tanker will continue to be in service for years, no matter what happens. Meanwhile an Airbus design is untested and would cost millions, billions, more.

“The Air Force has spent $1.6 billion flight-testing Pegasus, and it is now certified to refuel the vast majority of combat aircraft in the joint fleet,” a commentator for Forbes says. “Assuming the service does not wish to repeat this costly and protracted process with a different aircraft, KC-46 would seem to be the obvious candidate for the next increment of tanker purchases.”

Finally, there is the importance of buying American. Our allies offer a useful lesson in whether we should be outsourcing military spending.

Great Britain is the largest-spending European country when it comes to weapons procurement. Yet the British have shut down their home-grown weapons building capability. The U.K. only has about 150 tanks to deploy. As for other weapons, the country’s government considered pulling rocket launchers out of museums to donate them to Ukraine. Britain is a great ally, but it has little hardware to contribute.

Free markets are wonderful, and the best possible way to organize an economy. But a strictly free market does not apply to national security. If our international supply lines are cut off, the United States will still need to be able to build and maintain our weapons systems. Trying to save a few dollars while making ourselves vulnerable doesn’t make sense. The U.S. needs domestic suppliers. It does not need Airbus.

Greg Young is host of the nationally syndicated Chosen Generation Radio Show which airs Monday through Friday on stations coast to coast. He served as a Russian Linguist at the USAF, discover more at chosengenerationradio.com.

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