Current Challenges to the Defense Industrial Base
Ukraine and other security challenges have revealed the urgent need for U.S. defense capability—at scale. The defense industry is undergoing a multi-year process to backfill arms transfers to Ukraine in partnership with the USG. These acute crises reveal to many observers that the United States has created a system for defense production with constrained surge capacity and resiliency. To build a defense production system that can either surge or stockpile things like munitions excess to the immediate need, we must evaluate the incentives and structures that have governed defense development and procurement in recent decades.
Please join the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group on Tuesday, September 20th at 11:00am ET for a roundtable discussion on defense industrial base challenges in the context of the Ukraine war. CSIS expert and DIIG Director Dr. Cynthia Cook will be joined by Frank St. John, Chief Operating Officer, Lockheed Martin; Gordon Stein, Vice President of U.S. Operations, General Dynamics Land Systems; and Amy Gowder, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Aviation Military Systems. The conversation will focus on current defense industrial base challenges related to inflation, workforce, and supply chains.
This event is made possible by support from Lockheed Martin.