That has always been my understanding as well. The DoD would insist production be spread across multiple companies.
Additionally, why in the world is this even public knowledge?
Additionally, why in the world is this even public knowledge?
Why would it not be. Government Secrecy should be opposed by anyone that wants a free society
You can not have a "Government for the people by the people" if the government is allowed to keep secrets from the people. Nor can voters properly select and hold representatives accountable if those people do not know what the government is doing
We have a MASSIVE problem with government secrecy right now, too much of what the government does, especially in military and "intelligence" is deemed to be "secret" for "national security". We need to be clawing back the power to hid things, and making more and more activity transparent, not hiding more
> Why would it not be [public knowledge]?
I can think of multiple ways in which this information could be useful in the hands of enemies of the United States. An example: this publicizes weaknesses in the US military's supply chain.
Is there a reason this particular piece of information (a Louisiana factory blew up and is causing supply chain issues for the US Military) should be public -- or was this more of a general commentary on more transparency?
First and foremost it shows the incompetence of leadership, and misaligned priorities when it comes to public finance. Why was there only one factory, were funds not allocated properly to ensure a more robust supply chain? where political favors exchanged for the monopoly? As a result of the monopoly was the military paying more per unit of product since there was no competition? That is just off the top of my head for questions from the story.
Hiding things like this ensures corruption will follow
rarely
typically it is a bid/bake-off process and the winner gets a production contract
even for firearms...Sig won the handgun contract and the new rifle contract...they'll be the sole producer of both