Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewsl!cbnewsk!cbnewsj!cbnewsi!cbnewsh!cbnewsu!cbnewse!cbnewsd!cbnewsc!cbfsb!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Wartime surge production of supplies
Message-ID: <1990Nov17.015847.29373@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 17 Nov 90 01:58:47 GMT
References: <1990Nov15.015054.3895@cbnews.att.com>,<1990Nov16.053847.23433@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: The U. of MD, CP, CAD lab
Lines: 32
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
In article <1990Nov16.053847.23433@cbnews.att.com>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>
>
>From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>>From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
>>How long does it take to produce the following items? How many production lines
>>are available for "surge" capability? (Stop laughing so hard...)
>
>(Laughter deleted.)  The surge capacity of the production lines is miniscule
>in comparison to the sort of consumption rate that would be normal in any
>substantial war.  These are very complex weapons by the standards of
>earlier wars, and ramping up production would take years.  For all practical
>purposes, a modern military force fights a war with whatever (inadequate)
>reserves it had when the war started.

Let's take the HARM as an example: Company A) Produces 60%, while company B)
produces 40% on a standard DoD bid. 

War is declared. Both companies are allowed to product at their maximium
rates (whatever they are), and furthermore are allowed to waive certain testing
specifications (Such as: Demonstrated shelf life, testing for extreme cold ;-). 

The chokepoint in most weapons would be, I think, the electronic components.
Circuit boards aren't something you can just crank out overnight unless you
have a highly automated factory (such as an Apple or NeXT) designed for
volume production.

You'd also run into problems trying to volume produce certain composite
structures which need to be baked in expensive ovens.