What The Ukraine War Revealed About American Industry

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Modern warfare begins in factories and manufacturing facilities. Today’s armies, navies, and air forces require weapons, tanks, planes, and ships to fight any conflict. Yet America’s strategic leadership repeatedly fails to understand Benjamin Franklin’s simple words: Every element of that supply line must work together to provide our country’s fighting men and women with the tools for battle.

The preeminent example of this has been the recent shortage of 155mm artillery shells. The initial battles in Ukraine were predominantly artillery battles, as each side—Russia and Ukraine—sought to achieve strategic dominance. At the peak of this infantry struggle, Russia was firing an estimated 60,000 artillery shells daily.

This staggering number caught NATO and the Ukrainians by surprise. For America, this ought to have been a wake-up call. After all, if the Ukrainians were to match the Russians, that is, achieve battlefield parity, they would use up in less than two weeks the total yearly production of America’s premier artillery shell, the 155mm.

By July 2023, the situation became dire; the United States could no longer supply Ukraine with the required number of artillery shells to keep up with the Russians. In what had to be one of the most humiliating moments of his Presidency, Joe Biden sat down with Fareed Zakaria of CNN and related:

“This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it,” Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to – not permanently – but to allow for this transition period while we get more 155 weapons, these shells, for the Ukrainians.”

For the first time, an American President admitted that America could not produce ammunition at a rate to match an enemy, Russia. For the careful observer, this was when Americans saw how hollow our manufacturing base was; it lay bare for all to see.

Four months after the President admitted that the US did not have sufficient 155mm shells, the Army came forward requesting a $3.1 billion supplemental appropriations for more shells. Half of that amount ($1.5 Billion) would be used to purchase new shells, while the other half ($1.5 billion) would be used to start construction of new ammunition plants.

This was, no doubt, good news to the nation’s largest producer of 155mm shells, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant. Operated by General Dynamics, the “bones” of this plant, buildings, foundations, and so on go back to its original Locomotive manufacturer operation begun in 1908. It was then converted to a munitions plant in 1953. Production lines that go back for generations—such is the state of American manufacturing today.

But there’s much more to our story than a simple $3 billion fix of an ancient factory would cure. In an excellent video on the production of the 155mm shells, the US Military Channel shows how a steel billet enters the production line, is cut, rolled, fashioned, and eventually becomes a finished artillery shell.

But what, you may ask, is a “steel billet?” Ah, the most important point. A steel billet is, as the video shows, a cylinder-shaped piece of steel milled and delivered by an outside provider. In Franklin’s words, it’s the “nail,” the first part of the manufacturing process. And what has Washington done to provide the “nail” (the steel billet)? Nothing.

In fact, it’s one of these “billet” makers who has garnered much of the headlines here in Pennsylvania, as a Japanese Company, Nippon Steel, has bid to take over America’s Number One Steel Producer, US Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, just across the state from the General Dynamic munitions plant in Scranton.

But for the first time, the Ukraine War vividly demonstrated the strategic importance of steel production. Perhaps with more 155mm shells when the War began, Ukraine could have been in a better place today.

Politicians across the country have been quick to condemn the takeover as anti-American. However, this sentiment must seem hollow to the thousands of US Steelworkers whose jobs are at risk. As we go to press, both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have opposed the Nippon takeover, with Biden threatening to veto the move and Donald Trump promising to do the same if elected.

For generations, America has ignored its manufacturing companies. We preferred to believe that we were still the powerhouse “factory of the world” that we were many years ago. But the 155mm shell punctured that illusion as surely as it does an enemy tank. In Ukraine, we could not match the enemy’s production. For the first time since before World War II, we have been outmatched in the factory.

Perhaps it’s time to revitalize our Rust Belt and create new, efficient, clean-running plants. It’s a tall order, but in a world that’s becoming increasingly hostile, it may become necessary for our very survival.

“For want of a nail…”