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...Lockheed Ruins Eight 123' Coast Guard Cutters!
Henry Spencer ) writes:
In article , Andre Lieven wrote: Yeah, its pretty amazing. One might say that the USN and USCG might suggest to their US suppliers that the USN and USCG might not be averse to buying ships and boats from overseas. That might put a scare up the " more efficient private businesses ". If you want efficiency, I'm afraid you have to look elsewhere than the government's captive design bureaus. Suitable companies *do* exist within the US; the trouble is that they're not "qualified suppliers", and also that they're typically averse to contracts where the paperwork tonnage exceeds the vessel tonnage (which might not be an issue with the USCG but certainly is with the USN). In which case, thats unrelated to this USCGC matter... The current situation among defence/space contractors really is mostly the government's own stupid fault. Read Patrick Tyler's " Running Critical; The Silent War, Rickover and General Dynamics ", and get back to me about that; that case involving the bulk of production of USN attack and boomer subs back then, including the general manager of Elco FLEEING US jurisdiction to avoid criminal prosecution. It's in the nature of the larger and more established firms in a field to merge into still bigger ones, especially when business is bad. Right, thats " free enterprise untrammeled " at work. Hardly the gov't fault or responsibility. I'll add this one: " HMO V/ Cdn. Medicare... " The way you prevent this from producing monopolies or oligopolies is to keep the door open to aspiring newcomers -- Given what happened to the Tucker Automobile Company over a half a century ago, its clear that, even with car production, this is rarely possible. Up the technical sophistication of the good to be produced, *and* the diminished size of how many can/will be bought, and that trait towards corporate centralisation is only magnified. Who owns how many networks and cable channels ? How many cable companies are available to buy from where you live ? Etc. both by going easy on the paperwork and the "qualified supplier" rules, and by making sure that some of the work comes in packages of suitable sizes (the one-big-contract-every-ten-years syndrome guarantees steady shrinkage of the contractor pool, since it's naturally politically impossible to take any sort of perceived risk with such megacontracts). In smaller cases, like the Canadian Navy ( Or, most smaller navies ), there isn't the money or a real need to keep producing warships. Note that, after the run of 12 Patrol Frigates ( Halifax class ) were built, no more naval construction was on tap. As with those ships, and the existing 4 modified Tribals, the fleet had all the ships it could afford to run. ( More than that, actually, as the refitted Tribal HMCS Huron was laid up 6 years ago due to insufficient manpower, and she will, this year, be scuttled as an artifical reef. ) For all intents and purposes, space is such a limited market up to now. A strenuous effort to preserve competition at all levels, preferably *including* full production, also helps: "you can have one contract for the price of two, or two for the price of two". Indeed. Ask Parliament and Congress for the $$$ to fund continued production. In the case of the latter, and for thingys related to this newsgroup, that wasn't/isn't happening. Your point about production costs/rates is quite accutrate. But, when the need and/or $$$ isn't there... Much though I hate to say it :-), the current mess is *not* the fault of the current White House. g Agreed, and thats why I never suggested or hinted that it was. The previous one, and the one before that, and also the two or three before that, were just as inattentive about this. Again, agreed. (The consolidation of established firms has been more conspicuous in the last 10-15 years, but it was happening long before that. In 1961, the RFP for the Apollo CSM -- very much a qualified-suppliers-only affair -- went to *fourteen* companies.) And the vultures are now coming home to roost. It happened faster in the UK aero industry, but its arrived in the US, too. And, you know what is all too often true about effective monopolies... cough Automotive gasoline companies cough. Andre |
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...Lockheed Ruins Eight 123' Coast Guard Cutters!
Andre Lieven wrote: Read Patrick Tyler's " Running Critical; The Silent War, Rickover and General Dynamics ", and get back to me about that; that case involving the bulk of production of USN attack and boomer subs back then, including the general manager of Elco FLEEING US jurisdiction to avoid criminal prosecution. That's a very good book indeed. Pat |
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