Can the American military maintain deterrence in East Asia without fixing its shipbuilding? The U.S. Navy’s fleet is rusting and shrinking, while China’s grows. Last week, new data showed Chinese shipbuilding again accelerating relative to American, with 54 percent of global output, up from 35 percent a decade ago. “All of our programs are a mess,” said Secretary of the Navy John Phelan before the Senate. Chinese military planners may conclude it is time to risk their fleet against America’s. Without strong shipbuilding, the Pentagon may hesitate to commit a fleet it cannot regenerate.
Into this tense moment steps a new generation of political and industrial leaders. Tech and finance executives now leading in the Pentagon are laying siege to underperforming shipbuilding programs. From industry, a new Silicon Valley-backed company seems to charge into the breach of maritime defense tech every day. But most of these companies offer software rather than steel.
Traditional shipbuilders seem skeptical of new entrants who promise to transform the industry. None of them has yet built a ship. This sentiment echoes the feelings of the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer two years ago, at the height of the artillery ammo crunch in Ukraine: “The tech bros aren’t helping us.” Traditional ammo factories fed Ukrainian shell hunger, as Cold War shipyards, not new entrant tech companies, generate the U.S. fleet.
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