All the U.S. military hardware wouldn’t just disappear.
A lot of it would quite quickly fall into disrepair due to funding issues and the fact that factories for components are deliberately spread out between states for pork reasons.
Basically it'll be like how the Russian federation isn't nearly the military power that the USSR was.
A lot of it would fall into disrepair, but a balkanized U.S. would presumably still involve trade between its constituent parts, and there would be ample opportunities for political leaders to fearmonger. A good chunk would keep chugging or get rebuilt.
I agree, but going back to the collapse of the USSR, the CIS states still traded heavily with each other, but a lot of stuff fell into disrepair.
The big difference I can foresee is that there won't be one clear strongest successor nation (like the Russian federation was to the USSR) so all the new countries will hang onto any nukes that they hold.
A lot of it would quite quickly fall into disrepair due to funding issues and the fact that factories for components are deliberately spread out between states for pork reasons.
Basically it'll be like how the Russian federation isn't nearly the military power that the USSR was.
A lot of it would fall into disrepair, but a balkanized U.S. would presumably still involve trade between its constituent parts, and there would be ample opportunities for political leaders to fearmonger. A good chunk would keep chugging or get rebuilt.
I agree, but going back to the collapse of the USSR, the CIS states still traded heavily with each other, but a lot of stuff fell into disrepair.
The big difference I can foresee is that there won't be one clear strongest successor nation (like the Russian federation was to the USSR) so all the new countries will hang onto any nukes that they hold.