Former US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who served under two presidents, long opposed costly and overly complex weapons programs, urging instead for affordable next-generation arms. Two decades later, little has changed. The Iran war revealed that producing a Patriot missile takes 36 months and costs $4 million each, while the US military used over 1,200 of them, including against Iran’s low-cost Shahed drones. The conflict underscored Gates’s earlier criticism, exposing serious deficiencies in America’s defense industrial capacity.
Current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now addressing the issue, seeking a record $1.5 trillion military budget while calling for “85 percent solution” weapons and multiple suppliers to expand production. Experts, however, argue that financial increases alone cannot fix structural flaws. Rachel Hoff of the Ronald Reagan Institute said real change requires cultural and procedural reform within the Pentagon’s contracting and acquisition systems.
Analysts like Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute blame the Pentagon’s slow procurement habits and limited-scale buying for production bottlenecks. Officials claim reforms are underway to boost manufacturing three to four times and to engage new defense technology firms.
আন্তর্জাতিক ডেস্ক প্রকাশ : ২০ মে ২০২৬, ২২: ৫৬আপডেট : ২০ মে ২০২৬, ২৩: ০৪ আমেরিকার দুই ভিন্ন প্রেসিডেন্টের অধীন প্রতিরক্ষামন্ত্রী হিসেবে দায়িত্ব পালন করেছেন রবার্ট এম গেটস। তার মেয়াদকালে সব সময়ই অতিরিক্ত বিধ্বংসী ও ব্যয়বহুল সমরাস্ত্র তৈরির বিরোধিতা করে
The ‘1 Nojor’ media platform is now live in beta, inviting users to explore and provide feedback as we continue to refine the experience.
