US lacks workers to rebuild satellites lost in war, RAND report finds
Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
A RAND report warns the US space industry lacks the engineers, technicians, and assemblers needed to rebuild military satellites lost in a conflict with China or Russia within 12 to 24 months. The study, 'Breaking Glass, Missing Hands,' finds severe workforce gaps, including a 19-to-1 shortfall for assemblers, and notes that specialized expertise can take 15 years to develop. It recommends policy changes and modest investments to address the shortfall.
Without steady production between contracts, specialized skills atrophy and experienced workers leave, taking with them the institutional knowledge needed to scale.
- noahbp
To paraphrase patio11, a disagreement between you and the market is not a shortage.
I'm surprised that anyone still believes the perennial "labor shortage" complaints. It has always been about employers refusing to improve wages and working conditions.
- eagerpace
You could say the same thing about any military hardware during a peace-time economy. It’s not a matter if it exists, it’s a matter if the relevant knowledge exists in domestic/friendly industrial base. The U.S. is making more satellites than the rest of the world combined right now.
- paleotrope
All the stated problems are just problems in peacetime; Pay and bureaucratic red tape.
- chmod775
Somehow I doubt that after a war with China, satellites would be high on the priority list of things that need rebuilding.
You'd probably start with rebuilding more basic manufacturing and refinery industry destroyed during the war.
- Georgelemental
We "lack workers to rebuild" many things that could be lost in a war with peer thermonuclear-armed powers. The only winning move is not to play