Aerospace supply chains have been treated as jobs and/or kickbacks programs versus practical/product need. The aircraft with parts made in every congressmen's c

Aerospace supply chains have been treated as jobs and/or kickbacks programs versus practical/product need. The aircraft with parts made in every congressmen's constituencies and our partner allies versus the aircraft with a sane supply chain designed to best serve the aircraft needs. So now you are dependant on hundreds of small suppliers/subcontractors. Small businesses can't exactly scale up and down like Lockheed could, especially when you consider the large investment in say and addition upright mill that needs a lot more demand than a few extra spares being made to justify. In software the saying I've heard/used is 'everything can't be everything'. You can have a jobs program. You can have kickbacks to local economies that aren't required to make financial/availability sense. You can have a reactive/responsive supply chain. Or you can have an efficient least expensive supply chain.