Comment by AngryData
17 hours ago
I don't believe for a second that modern automotice production can easily be changed into manufacturing anything besides consumer grade vehicles. Auto plants aren't full of generalized lathes and mills anymore and a large part of their supply chain is based in smaller factories making the the more complicated parts. It takes them up to two years just to switch from one consumer vehicle to another, not to mention a completely new vehicle unlike anything that has been built in those plants for over 80 years if ever.
It would be a long switchover, but a large building and local skilled labor are important/useful. The jigs can't be reused but the stations with new jigs can be used.
Um, this is exactly what happened in the previous wars. Even modern ones. Auto plants are full of general purpose robots. They can make military stuff with some relatively low-cost changes.
There's something about showing up to fight the previous war. Tanks were scary from WWII to Desert storm, and still are to me, as a civilian. But militarily are they still? I have no idea what I could to do fight against one that magically showed up in front of my house, but Ukraine War videos suggests the age of tanks has passed. They're still something you'd need to make, but more important it seems is the ability to make tiny electric motors for drones and injection molding for plastic fans, and some 3d printing. You'd want a manufacturing base that was able to make cellphones, not tanks.
Looks to me that flexible industry is the new super-weapon.
That means standard components, flexible robots (3d printing are some, but there are many kinds), low retooling time. And yes, nothing at all like a car factory.