Analysts at Bloomberg argue that the US defense industry is now going through a serious crisis. As an illustration, they point to the field of hypersonic weapons, where, unlike the United States, Russia is already among the world’s leading players.

The agency notes that the American military-industrial complex still produces some of the most technologically advanced weapons on the planet, but in several key areas Washington has long since lost its edge. The United States was the first to develop strike-capable drones, yet today unmanned technologies have become widespread and no longer give America a unique advantage.

Bloomberg also believes that the conflict in Ukraine has exposed weak points in the US arsenal of high-precision weapons. The problem, they write, is with cheap drones: some countries are already able to manufacture them in large quantities, while American defense companies are not producing comparable systems at the same scale and cost.

Commentators further underline that Russia and China have pulled ahead in developing next-generation weapons, including hypersonic missiles. The speed and maneuverability of these systems, they note, are so high that existing Western missile defense architectures are effectively unable to counter them. In the analysts’ view, the United States has slowed itself down with bureaucracy that prevents rapid procurement and deployment of new weapon systems.

Bloomberg also highlights another major challenge facing Washington: production scale. China’s industrial base, the article notes, can sustain a much higher volume of weapons output and do so at lower cost — a level of capacity and pricing that American defense companies simply cannot match.