Pentagon: US arms industry struggling to keep up with China – POLITICO

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/02/draft-pentagon-strategy-china-00129764

A draft copy of the new National Defense Industrial Strategy says American companies can’t build weapons fast enough to meet global demand.

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Some who have seen the draft report are frustrated with what they perceive is a lack of hard recommendations.

One defense industry adviser called it “underwhelming,” saying it doesn’t focus on long-term solutions to supply chain issues that have plagued the defense industry.

The report notes that after the Cold War, the defense industry shrank as companies merged. Yet China has spent the past 30 years becoming a “global industrial powerhouse” in shipbuilding, critical minerals and microelectronics. China’s industry’ “vastly exceeds the capacity of not just the United States, but the combined output of our key European and Asian allies as well,” it says.

The report also points out that the Covid pandemic laid bare the supply chain’s vulnerabilities. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel “uncovered a different set of industrial demands and corresponding risks” as the U.S. races to produce arms to support Ukraine and Israel.

“It has become clear that insufficient production and supply capacity are now deeply entrenched problems throughout all tiers of production supply chains,” the report says.

To fix the problem, the strategy says DOD “will develop more resilient and innovative supply chains,” invest in smaller businesses and focus more on innovation.

The U.S. also has to acknowledge that not all the answers are at home. “We must solicit entrants of all types: large and small, domestic, and foreign, and those with no previous relationship to the DoD or defense production,” the report says.

“The nation needs to rally to the common defense,” the report concludes. “This NDIS is a call to both the public and private sectors for focused, dedicated efforts to build and secure the industrial capability and capacity necessary to ensure our military has the materiel available to deter our potential adversaries, and if necessary, defeat them in battle. This call to action may seem a great cost, but the consequences of inaction or failure are far greater.”