The Biden administration is diverting Patriot missile systems to Ukraine and away from the foreign customers for whom the systems were originally intended. The air defense system has proven its worth in helping Ukraine defend against Russia’s daily air attacks. That onslaught deliberately targets civilians and nonmilitary infrastructure including apartment buildings and shopping centers. The United States is right to prioritize Ukraine’s defense.
Yet the need to divert the Patriots underlines a broader concern we have long emphasized: America’s military-industrial base is now painfully inadequate. Allies who will now suffer delays to Patriot deliveries will probably include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and South Korea. Taiwan, fortunately, will be exempt. That’s important amid the growing threat the island democracy faces from China.
The U.S. and allies such as Romania, which will send one of its Patriot batteries to Ukraine, are right to bolster support for Ukraine. But American inability to produce needed munitions at sufficient speed is an urgent problem. There is now a fundamental mismatch between the level of international threat and necessary supplies to the U.S. military and what the military-industrial base can manufacture and sustain.
This is a particular problem in relation to China. The Chinese military is surging the production of warships, anti-ship ballistic missiles, fighter aircraft, combat drones, and other forces. What China builds is not as good as what the U.S. builds, but it would be a grave mistake to believe Chinese weapons are not potent. U.S. military analysts view the Chinese military’s Type-055 air defense cruiser as among the world’s best, for example. Like most of what the Chinese military is producing, it has a core mission objective: to provide a means of denying the U.S. military access to Taiwan at the risk of destroying large parts of the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
This brings us back to the Patriots. The U.S. is now begging and borrowing from allies just to provide minimal air defenses for Ukraine. In the event of war with Taiwan, however, the Chinese military would fire hundreds of missiles each day. Those, plus the Chinese Air Force, could swiftly overwhelm Taiwan. Our ally needs a lot more Patriot systems now, but they simply don’t exist.
The problem runs deep. Beyond the U.S. Marine Corps, which has embraced bold reforms to prepare for war with China, much of the Pentagon establishment doesn’t seem to recognize the urgency of remedial action.
A Government Accountability Office report this month pointed to inadequate staffing, inefficient budgeting, and other problems in producing major weapons programs. The report tellingly mentions “delay” 289 times. It makes clear that the Pentagon is not doing its job.
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The Pentagon is not alone to blame. Some in Congress make things worse with pending legislation, such as that of Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), that would alienate allies while further slowing down and increasing costs for the Navy’s shipbuilding schedule, which is already catastrophically behind. Too many in Congress view the defense budget as a tool for local cronyism rather than a foundation for national defense needs.
The Patriot shortage is just one symptom of a dangerous and much bigger problem.
