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The United States’ defense industrial base has severely atrophied since the Cold War. But to justify ramping up production, US weapons manufacturers need a strong demand signal. Meanwhile, Israel and Ukraine are battling two of America’s major adversaries. As the US sends weapons to frontline allies, Washington is on the hook to replenish its stockpiles with newer munitions, which requires reinvesting, scaling up production, and adopting a wartime mindset to avoid a major conflict.
How Do We Get There?
Re: Building Defense is a limited series that highlights Hudson’s policy recommendations for revitalizing the US defense industrial base for great power competition.
Sketching Out the Details
Since the Cold War, the US manufacturing base has atrophied severely. Then Russia’s war against Ukraine laid bare America’s need to reinvest in its defense industrial base. Because the US needs to deliver weapons to vulnerable allies, Congress now has to purchase weapons quickly, as well as more responsibly and cost-effectively. These changes will improve the US military’s ability to deter a major war. Below are several highlights:
- Lockheed Martin’s Arkansas facility has boosted production of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from 48 to 60 units per year and will be able to produce 96 per year by the end of 2024.
- The Alabama facility that produces Javelin anti-tank guided missiles announced in May 2022 that it would increase production from 2,100 units per year to 3,960 by 2026.
- Thanks to US support for Ukraine’s defense, the Department of Defense allocated $1.2 billion to upgrade the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, which packs 155mm artillery shells with explosives.
Read “Helping Ukraine Is Forcing the United States to Produce More Weapons” by Rebeccah Heinrichs.
“I think that what we’ve learned is that there is a degree of sophistication that we need to look at and how we can move faster at scale. . . . Down in Mesquite, Texas . . . we just opened up a universal artillery production line. And one of those things it does is it adds in things like autonomous vehicles to be able to move steel, robotic arms to be able to do things for the safety of folks that used to have to touch [explosives], and when you start doing the forming of a projectile using software to be able to tune. . . . things like that allow us to move more quickly. And then I’d also say it gives us a little bit of flexibility so that we don’t necessarily have to do one type of munition. We’ve got some versatility at how we do that. So those are some areas that I think that this has allowed us to learn and to be able to invest in our industrial base so that we’re ready to do things at scale.”
Acting now to provide Israel with the munitions it needs—and to continue providing them to Ukraine—is an investment in US security. It forces us today to develop the surge capacity that we should have for the future. A wartime mindset will require several changes. First, Congress has to accept the need for multiyear production contracts to provide industry with the necessary demand signals. Second, Defense Department leaders should streamline the contracting process. Third, we need to make full use of existing production lines. Fourth, the United States needs to restore the ability to acquire and deploy the chemical compounds, called energetic materials, that go into munitions. Fifth, the White House should lean into broader fixes for the defense industrial base.
Quotes may be edited for clarity and length.
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