Underfunded defense resembles insurance bought mainly so its owner can claim to be covered. When a crisis arrives, the missing capacity cannot be improvised without cost and delay. Procurement losses can come from direct corruption, but they can also arise in the difficult pricing of unique research and development. Private suppliers must earn a return, while the state often has no competitive market price for a one-off military system. Adequate funding and scrutiny of how that money is spent are both necessary.
Notable Point · 2:50:53-2:53:42
Cheap defense becomes a procurement false economy
A fleet funded like cheap insurance may exist on paper but fail when called upon, while bespoke research creates real costs and opportunities for waste.