Comparison of Naval Acquisition Efficiency Between the United States and China

Abstract

The People's Republic of China has emerged as the most significant long-term strategic competitor to the United States on the world stage. To accomplish this, China has made substantial investments in modern naval systems. In order to understand how successful China has been in this effort, an understanding of its acquisition system is required. Different countries use different processes for the acquisition of defense systems. Currently, there is not a standard method for comparing the efficiency of acquisition systems between the United States and other nations. The purpose of this research was to develop a framework that can be used to accomplish this task and to then demonstrate that framework on the United States and China's naval shipbuilding programs. The results of this research identified 10 key factors that affect a country's acquisition efficiency. While the United States shipbuilding program outperforms China in seven of these areas, China's leads in two key factors: cost and schedule performance. This indicates that although the United States has a more efficient acquisition system overall, China is still able to produce warships faster and at a lower cost. In order to maintain its strategic advantage on the world stage, the United States must work to ensure that its acquisition system remains ahead overall and closes the gap when it comes to cost and schedule.