Russia and Ukraine

[arewethereyet]

Our main issue from a supply standpoint is that it's taken about 50 years to make 10k patriot missiles and anyone who currently has them is clutching them like the last lifejacket on a sinking ship.  The production chain for just the rockets is complicated and distributed - and the rocket is only one part of the system.  There's no easy way for all of those companies to scale outside of direct government subsidy.  At the final assembly end we rely on just a couple factories - I believe they're looking to increase the seekers in huntsville by 30%?  Hopefully no disruptions based on the parent companies woes will impact production (hello boeing) but the idea is to make about 200 more missiles a month.  Some of that is an army contract, some of it is part of the aid bill, and some of it is internal investment by lockheed because..as they put it.... "we see a demand out there".

I seem to remember Raytheon talking about opening up another factory so that they can relocate Stinger production to it and use the freed-up storage space to launch another Patriot line.

Of course, at my age, "I seem to remember" is a significant qualifier.

The conservatives in Congress who oppose our aiding Ukraine forget that not only is 80% of that aid being spent here in America, it is helping keep our defense-industrial base healthy. No wonder the Putin wing of the Republicans want to snuff out aid.

Side note - Aron Ra worked at the local Raytheon till he retired to become a full time atheist speaker.