I agree with the point you’re making about the misaligned incentives of current prime contractors, and share some of your cynicism.

But I fear a shooting war with a peer adversary could get so horrific so quickly that we wouldn’t have time to respond in the way you say.

It would of course be better to deter conflict in the first place. But as we’ve seen in Ukraine deterrence is not just about having the absolute most high-tech weapons on Day 0, but the ability to sustain production of good enough capabilities over the long haul. And that’s the real harm the current system has created.

Realigning our industrial base to sustain a fight would take too long to happen after a conflict starts, and without it we can’t credibly deter one.