Lagging arms production raises concerns over industry consolidation, WSJ report

U.S. defense companies are having difficulties quickly replenishing weaponry, such as missiles and artillery shells, for Ukraine, Doug Cameron of The Wall Street Journal reports. After two decades of mergers and acquisitions, there are only six contractors who share the majority of Pentagon spending on military equipment. These defense companies manufacture less themselves and instead rely on subcontracting. These smaller subcontracted companies have become a choke point, often dealing with shortages of labor and components such as chips and rocket motors. Publicly traded companies in the space include Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD), General Dynamics (GD), Lockheed Martin (LMT), L3Harris (LHX), and Raytheon (RTX). Reference Link