Rebuilding US Arms Production - Can a new Strategy Restore the Arsenal of Democracy?

During many major conflicts of the 20th century, the ability of the USA to pump out enormous amounts of defence materiel was a critical factor. In the lead up to WW2 the US would declare itself the 'arsenal of democracy'

But with the end of the Cold War came reductions and consolidation - and after the events of early 2022 the US, like many other nations, found itself eager to re-expand its defence industries to meet the demands of the war in Ukraine and changing global security environment.

That provided the context for the release of a defence industry strategy this year -- and today, we're going to talk about it.

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Caveats, Comments and Corrections:

All normal caveats and disclaimers apply

In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other similar decisions, judgements or evaluations.

This is obviously very much not financial advice.

Many images on slides are included only for illustrative, comedic or aesthetic purposes and should not be assumed to be related to the corresponding text or audio.

Readings and Sources:

2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy:
https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

Annual Industrial Capabilities Reports 2021-2016

2021 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

2020 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

2019 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

2018 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

2017 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

2016 - https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/...

Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency (2018)
https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/05...

CRS on the US Defense Industrial Base:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/produ...

US DoD Small Business Strategy
https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jan/26...

Defense News reporting on Patriot PAC-3 production figures
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2024....

Reporting source on production rate of 12 Patriot fire units per year
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2024...

Reporting on call for a third US nuclear shipyard
https://news.usni.org/2023/10/12/cong...

US missile production - Arkansas
https://www.defensenews.com/industry/...

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...

Mentioned Xinhua article
https://english.news.cn/20240228/4b04...

US arms hitting record high in 2023
https://www.reuters.com/business/aero...

Source for featured shipyard worker image
https://news.usni.org/2016/04/06/navs...

US Navy Secretary on ROK shipbuilding capacity
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-na...

FRCSW Apprenticeship program
https://frcsw.navair.navy.mil/Public-...

https://www.swccd.edu/programs-and-ac...

Reporting on US manufacturing jobs
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/21/manu...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

https://nam.org/manufacturing-in-the-...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — Opening Words
00:01:04 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:21 — The Peace Dividend
00:06:58 — Towards Strategy
00:10:12 — Resilient Supply Chains
00:26:17 — Workforce Readiness
00:36:25 — Flexible Acquisition
00:46:09 — Signs Of Progress
00:51:05 — Geopolitical Significance
01:03:19 — Channel Update