Revitalizing America's shipbuilding industry: Weapons and Warfare

Hey folks, and welcome to another edition of Weapons and Warfare for Straight Arrow News

I'm your host, Ryan Robertson. Just ahead on this week's episode, Beretta is aiming to equip the British Army with their

next close combat rifle by combining advanced technology with traditional craftsmanship. In our Weapon of the Week, we discover some of the innovative features and thoughts behind

the effort. And we check in with a recent Weapon of the Week in our Comms Check segment, as Black Sea Technologies' GARC is put through the paces in the Baltic Sea

But we're going to start with our debrief and a growing sense of urgency surrounding shipbuilding

It's a topic we've covered frequently here on Weapons in Warfare, and it's something that sits high on a long list of priorities for Secretary of the Navy John Phelan

And even though he's only been on the job for a few months, he made a point of it during his recent testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee

What I've learned is this. We are still the dominant naval power, but our adversaries are closing the gap at a concerning, accelerating rate

We need to make important cultural and strategic changes in order to maintain our competitive advantage

in plain terms america is facing unprecedented demand for new warships so how do we get there

to start answering that question i visited with benjamin plumb an associate partner at

mckinsey and company a global management consulting firm that's working to help the u.s

find a path forward Meeting this surge in demand is truly a daunting challenge

It is going to require us focusing on an aging infrastructure and rehabilitating that infrastructure

It's going to focus largely on attracting talent and retaining that talent

getting people excited about becoming shipbuilders. And it's going to require bringing new technology to bear on the business of shipbuilding

in a way that, frankly, has never been done. According to a report by Marine Insight, in the U.S., there are 154 private shipyards scattered across 29 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Of those 154, only 10 are big enough to accommodate the size and scale of America's military shipbuilding ambitions

The good news, according to Plum, is the U.S. has the facilities needed

Unfortunately, many of them haven't been updated since the end of World War II

That means bringing new equipment. It means revitalizing the facilities. In some cases, it means just bringing workers undercover so that they're capable of working out of the elements and doing so efficiently

So yard modernization is core to our challenge. Of course, that takes money, something Senator Roger Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee

recently pointed to when talking about the Trump administration's proposed trillion-dollar budget for the Department of Defense. I must say I am deeply disappointed

with the administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Navy. In particular, I'm disturbed about the shipbuilding account, which plummeted to

$20.8 billion from last year's $37 billion. That difference is not a small matter. According to a

report in Foreign Affairs, China's shipbuilding outpaces the rest of the world by a large margin

each year launching more tonnage than all other countries combined. In fact, the U.S. Office of

Naval Intelligence says China's shipbuilding capacity is more than 200 times that of the

United States. One of the primary issues that we have in the United States right now is that our

maritime infrastructure was built, in some cases, very seriously for the surge in production that

accompanied World War II. Much of that infrastructure has survived. Much of it is still serviceable

but it has not seen the same level of investment that Asian yards have seen in recent decades

And as a result, it is urgently necessary for us to invest in those yards

Another area of concern Plum points to is the workforce. While the industry may be hiring, qualified people aren't lining up for the jobs. According to some estimates, the shipping industry has anywhere from 140,000 to 179,000 unfilled jobs

We have to attract and retain new talent in shipbuilding. Our firm has written quite a bit about the aging out of the workforce

This means that we have failed to attract new talent to the profession of shipbuilding There are many reasons that that happened but I would broadly say that a lack of focus on

and a lack of veneration of shipbuilders over the last 30 or 40 years has contributed to that problem

Ask anyone involved in the shipbuilding industry and they'll tell you there is no easy way forward

But there is a path, one that could help the U.S. get back to where proponents say it should be

What I think is encouraging is we are seeing shipbuilders begin to adopt cutting-edge technology

and we're seeing their core customers really push them to do that

So that means we're looking at automated welding in a way that's never been deployed in shipbuilding

It means relying on technologies like digital twins to better understand the production environment

and to better understand the product itself, digital scheduling. Shipyards in the past used to rely on incredibly manual processes to schedule

Now we're looking at generative AI applications that can really reschedule production in real time in a way that increases throughput and transparency into production performance

That would be a major piece of the puzzle, because for all of the possible solutions, the DOD's biggest obstacle might just be time

As Secretary Phelan recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Navy's top program is six months behind schedule and exceeding the budget by 50%

Despite that, Phelan also said he now has a good grasp of the Navy's challenges and is working on a plan to fix what's broken

recently visiting three foreign shipyards and seven domestic ones to see how things could be done more efficiently

All right, folks, let's go ahead and take a look at some headlines you may have missed

Nearly one million Russian soldiers dead or injured since the start of Vladimir Putin's

illegal invasion of Ukraine. That's the finding in a recent study from the Center for Strategic

and International Studies. Of the estimated 950,000 Russian casualties, about 250,000 are believed to be deaths, marking a higher fatality rate than any Soviet or Russian conflict

since World War II. Since Russia's unprovoked assault began, Ukraine has sustained nearly 400,000

casualties, with somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 deaths. While Ukraine does not release

casualty numbers, and Moscow likely underreports its own, the report's estimates are consistent

with British and U.S. intelligence. The British Defense Ministry estimates Russia loses about

1,000 soldiers to death or injury every day. If this trend continues

Russia will likely exceed 1 million casualties sometime this summer. Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles recently expressed his confidence the AUKUS

submarine agreement with the U.S. and Britain is moving forward smoothly. He mentioned despite the

Trump administration conducting a formal review of AUKUS, Australia would maintain a close working

relationship with the United States. This is a multi-decade program where governments in fact

are going to come and go and when new governments come into place I think you can you will see them

undertake reviews of this kind and that's fine. We will work very closely with the U.S. on it

but we're really confident about the progress of AUKUS and we're confident about

how it will proceed under the Trump administration. In 2023, Australia committed to investing around $239 billion over the next 30 years for AUKUS

marking the largest defense project in the country's history, aimed at building nuclear-powered submarines

It's the end of an era. Marine Attack Squadron VMA-231, known as the Ace of Spades

recently flew its last Harrier flight and will officially deactivate in September

at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The Marine Corps aims to have a full

fleet of fifth-generation aircraft by 2030. The Harrier will continue flying until 2027

and the F-A-18 Hornet will remain operational until 2030. In 2022, the Corps set a goal to

procure 420 F-35 aircraft, 353 F-35Bs, and 67 F-35Cs at a rate of about 20 per year for 18 active squadrons

We be right back

think of when you hear the name Beretta? For me, my mind instantly goes to Max Payne diving through

the air, dodging bullets, and dealing harshly with his city's criminal undergrim. Most people

though, when hearing the name Beretta probably think of the M9, whether they're a firearms

enthusiast or not. And for good reason. It was the primary sidearm for the U.S. military for

more than three decades. While the M9 has since been replaced, Beretta is still very much in the

defense business, this time with an eye on the UK, and that's why they are the focus of our weapon of

the week. To say it was big news when the U.S. Army decided to move on from the M4 to the six-hour

made M7 for its close contact troops is an understatement. The M4 is an iconic piece of

American military history. It's the same position the British military now finds itself with wanting

to replace the L85A3, more commonly known as the SA80. Enter Project Greyburn, the British Ministry

of Defense's effort to find a replacement by 2030. One of the companies in the running for the job is

Beretta Defense Technologies, also known as BDTUK. We are the military and law enforcement arm of

Beretta holding companies. So everything that applies to a tactical setting, whether that be

law enforcement or military, BDT UK is representative of that in the United Kingdom

dealing with law enforcement agencies and UK Ministry of Defense. Jack Cadman is the military channel manager for BDT UK and one of the people helping lead the

charge to make BDT's new assault rifle project for the Seiko M23 the replacement for the SA-80

To do that, he tells us BDT is leaning on its history with the U.S. military and the M9

So everything that took place with the U.S. military, so delivering that pistol from a localized production facility

is something that we're taking forward, adapting to the U.K. requirements, and making sure that we put that forward as part of our bid

Boiled down, that means putting the production of British weaponry into the hands of British workers

just like Beretta did years ago with the M9 in the U.S

So we're absolutely using all of the information and lessons learned from how to do that with the M9 contract and putting it into the U.K

from that perspective. And we've worked with Beretta USA already, looking at how we would implement it from day zero of being awarded the contract

through to delivery and beyond the delivery of the weapon system. Cadman, himself a British Army veteran

says it's a tremendous opportunity for everyone involved in the effort. Even though there's been localized contracts in different platforms before

it'll be the first time that the UK has an organic weapon or firearms production facility

for a specific contract. There are other gun manufacturers that have factories and production facilities in the UK

but in terms of doing it specifically for technological transfer and a long-term perspective

That's what we're trying to do. As for the new assault rifle project

Cadman tells us they expect the requirements for the rifle chosen to use 5.56 caliber rounds

but there are plans to future-proof the rifle so it can accommodate 6.5 Grindle rounds as well

should the MOD decide to go that route. He also tells us BDT UK spent a lot of time

on the durability of the system. the scientists and engineers have worked relentlessly over in Italy to make sure that

kind of this weapon system is exactly what it needs to be from that perspective uh at least

it can definitely deal with the UK weather system weather systems that often come in place

and wherever the UK military might need to go but that's something that we've absolutely tried to do

so yeah we're confident in the durability and endurance of this weapon system so what's next

those involved with Project Greyburn expect the assessment phase to start sometime next year

and likely go to contract in late 2026 or early 2027 for approximately 150,000 weapons

Time now for comps check and we didn have to dig too far into the weapons and warfare archive for this one my name is et2 mullins i here at baltops 2025 in poland where we are working

with our partners and testing the capabilities of our platforms as well as software integration

GARC stands for Global Autonomous Recon Craft. The GARC's mission is to enable sailors to fulfill the mission from anywhere in the world

This gives us remote capabilities and allows us to keep our sailors and Marines out of harm's way

That's right, we've got an update and a hype video. We first introduced viewers to the GARC, built by Black Sea Technologies at SoftWeek in Tampa

Just a few weeks later, and it's out in the wild, being put through its paces by the U.S. Navy

during a recent exercise in Poland. The video shows American and Polish service members operating the GARC

from the port of Ustka in northwest Poland in early June. Used to boost maritime surveillance and responsibilities

the goal of the training is to build on existing relationships between allied forces

tasked with safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Baltic Sea. All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors

Alright, that's going to do it for us on this week's episode of Weapons and Warfare

Now is the part of the show where I remind you about our social media feeds

and how you should like and subscribe to them, and I usually follow that up with a plug for the Straight Arrow News app

so make sure you download that today. For my wrap this week, I'm focusing on the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities

This is actually the second time I'm recording this rap. We did one earlier where I explained why I thought the U.S. should strike those nuclear

facilities, and well, now that's happened. I don't think there is any question this could be the most monumental foreign policy

decision President Trump will make in his tenure, and it could set the stage for a dramatic

shift in power, which is why I think President Trump made the right call

Yes, I would have preferred he get a green light from Congress, but given the latitude the War Powers Act gives the commander-in-chief, and the many instances of presidents taking military action without congressional approval, I think Trump was well within his legal authority

Since 1979, the Iranian regime has done just about as much harm to world peace and killed more innocent people than just about any other government in power today

So to me, all the arguments about how or why we got to this point don't really matter

Yes, the president pulled the US out of the nuclear deal in 2018. And yes, Iran then sped up uranium enrichment

But the nuclear deal never really stopped Iran from enriching uranium. The deal just slowed the process down

So eventually the world was likely going to find itself in a similar situation to the one we're in now

which is one where the Israeli Air Force is pooning the Mullah regime and its air defenses

to the point Israeli and American pilots can fly around over Iran with impunity

Will the regime retaliate? They'll try, for sure, but what does that really mean anymore

Shutting down the Strait of Hormuz is a known tactic and there are contingencies to deal with it

The IDF decimated Hamas and Hezbollah, and the IRGC doesn't have many seasoned commanders anymore

so kinetic attacks may come, but they'll likely be sparse and limited

which isn't really all that different than what we have now. And we are all safer if the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism doesn't have a means to make nuclear weapons

So, some of Trump's MAGA base was against attacking Iran, saying it breaks more campaign promises

There are those on the left who call Israel an apartheid state

and that say that the U.S. should not lift a finger to help Israel

And the fact that those two sides agree on something may be one of the most shocking things out of all of this

But the Iranian regime doesn't care about any of it. They want you to die

If you're watching this video, the Mullah regime wants you to die

Because you are part of a society they find abhorrent. So if Iran was as close to getting a nuclear weapon as the evidence coming out seems to indicate

then taking out Iran's nuclear facilities was the right call to make

Period. Full stop. For senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer, and graphics artist Dakota Patio

I'm Ryan Robertson, Straight Arrow News, signing off