The Pentagon released its first ever National Defense Industrial Strategy on Jan. 11, billing it as a strategy to ensure the U.S. defense industrial base is adequate to “provide the required capabilities at the speed and scale necessary for the U.S. military to engage and prevail in a near-peer conflict.”
EIR will be reviewing the full report, as part of its ongoing investigation into the military-industrial-financial complex and development of concrete proposals for how to turn those “Swords into Plowshares.”
The Pentagon’s Defense Industrial Strategy is reported to be focused on increasing the ability of domestic companies to more rapidly produce weapon systems in greater quantities to ensure the U.S. military’s edge in any future conflict, particularly with China. “While America continues to generate the world’s most capable weapons systems, it must have the capacity to produce those capabilities at speed and scale to maximize our advantage,” the strategy says. “DOD needs to move aggressively toward innovative, next-generation capabilities while continuing to upgrade and produce, in significant volumes, conventional weapons systems already in the force.”
The report identifies four priority areas “to serve as guiding beacons for industrial action and resource prioritization in support of the development of a modern industrial ecosystem that supports the nation’s defense,” those being “Resilient Supply Chains, Workforce Readiness,
Flexible Acquisition, and Economic Deterrence.”
Russia and China took due notice. Russian news service, RIA Novosti asked Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning to comment today about the strategy report’s proposal that countries in the Indo-Pacific collaborate on building up a strong defense industrial base and production capability “to prepare for any potential future conflict in the region using the global experience of the Ukraine conflict. An effort to strengthen cooperation between the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region should not `wait for emergency circumstances,’ the report said.”
The spokeswoman offered some advice:
“As the world’s No.1 military power with the highest military expenditure, the U.S. lacks not in the capacity to launch wars, but the capacity to make and uphold peace. Peace and development is the shared pursuit of Asia-Pacific countries. The U.S. needs to respect the call of countries in the region, do more things that are conducive to peace and stability, and refrain from introducing bloc confrontation, conflict and turmoil to the Asia-Pacific.”
