Defense innovation, industry, & acquisition

Jim Hasik reviews the nine cases of US “friend-sourcing” of major military systems and finds they brought good quality, speed, and economy.

The DoD must accelerate defense innovation adoption from the leading edge of the private sector. This report has ten recommendations to do so and features eight vignettes that explore how these actions may play out in practice.

The private sector is the “sixth domain” of modern warfare, argues Frank Kramer, and the government should act to protect it.

Reed Blakemore and Tate Nurkin highlight advantages and propose next steps of the electrification of US military ground vehicles in this Global Energy Center and Forward Defense issue brief.

The United States needs to more closely integrate its own defense-industrial base with those of its allies, including Italy. This issue brief focuses on the US-Italian defense-industrial partnership to enable policymakers to better understand this relationship, leverage it more comprehensively to meet key strategic objectives, and secure the supply chains necessary to ensure US national security.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of “Buy American” policies have cast doubt on the ability of foreign suppliers to provide crucial defense goods and services to the US Department of Defense in times of crisis or conflict. Forward Defense Nonresident Senior Fellow James Hasik recommends the expansion of security of supply agreements (among other measures) to fully leverage the defense-industrial bases of US allies and partners and best support US security priorities.

The Indo-Pacific region has become a center of gravity for innovation in defense technologies and emerging military capabilities. This report explores major drivers of modernization and advances a new framework to capture defense technology and investment efforts in the region.

The purpose of this report by William Greenwalt is to promote urgent deliberations over what a modern National Technology and Industrial Base should look like, and to encourage Congress and the administration to adopt measures that will enable access to defense-industrial resources that are more responsive to the needs of the National Defense Strategy.