Industry Studies Group Papers

The Industry Studies Group Paper provides a current analysis of the domestic and international industry capability to support the 2022 NSS and NDS, and government-private sector interactions that impact the national innovation and defense industrial base. Students demonstrate the ability to evaluate international industry that supports the national innovation and defense industrial bases; derive fact-based, analytical, and resource-informed policy recommendations; and communicate them in a compelling fashion. Students develop actionable and resource-informed policy recommendations to strengthen the national innovation and defense industrial bases.

The Antonelli Award

Major General Theodore Antonelli Award for Research & Writing Excellence, was established in 1993 by the ICAF/Eisenhower School Alumni Association. Major General Antonelli served in North Africa and Italy during World War II as well as later in Vietnam. He later became the highly regarded 13th commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, from 1975 to 1978. This award recognizes the Industry Study Group Report that best reflects the standards of analytical excellence expected of the Industry Study Program and all Eisenhower School graduates. Apply the filter "Antonelli Award" to see each year's winning papers at the bottom of this page.

Featured Papers

Antonelli Award | Oct. 28, 2025

All Ahead Full: Revitalizing the U.S. Maritime Industrial Base

2025 Antonelli Award Winner-The United States has long depended on maritime power to safeguard national interests, drive economic growth, and maintain global influence. Central to this capability is the Maritime Industrial Base, a complex ecosystem
Antonelli Award | May 31, 2024

America Can Afford Survival A Capable U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise i...

2024 Antonelli Award Winner: Great Power Competition (GPC) with two nuclear peers/near-peers is driving the United States to confront the realities of an aging nuclear weapons stockpile and production infrastructure, shrinking manufacturing base, and
Antonelli Award | May 30, 2023

Transforming the Defense Space Architecture with the Tools of the U.S. F...

2023 Antonelli Award Winner: The asymmetric advantage the United States has long enjoyed in space diminishes as adversaries threaten the space system architecture underlying that advantage. The U.S. space system architecture depends on large,

Filtered Returns

Results:
Tag: OIB

Organic Industrial Base

Organic Industrial Base (OIB) Oct. 3, 2025

Forward Sustainment for Future Conflict: Designing a Resilient, Digitally Enabled Maintenance and Repair Enterprise for Indo-Pacific Conflict Scenarios

Recent policy signals underscore this urgency. The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) calls for resilient logistics networks and a robust industrial base. The FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) promotes sustainment transparency and acquisition reform. Executive Orders 14265, 14267, 14268, 14269, and 14278 emphasize innovation, skilled labor, allied cooperation, maritime revitalization, and regulatory streamlining. These directives make clear that sustainment modernization is now a national priority

Organic Industrial Base

Organic Industrial Base March 23, 2021

Opportunities to Improve OIB Strategy

The United States’ (U.S.) Organic Industrial Base (OIB) is a bloodline for the Nation’s defense. Nested in a vast ecosystem of organizations and industries providing support to the Nation, the OIB maintains, repairs, overhauls, and modifies weapon systems for the Nation’s Armed Forces. The OIB provides an assured sustainment capability free from vulnerabilities that plague the commercial sector and larger Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Just as blood carries oxygen throughout the body to permit it to function optimally, a government-owned and operated weapon system sustainment capability supports global reach and readiness. The OIB bloodline must effectively deliver this capability in peacetime and have the capacity to increase flow when the United States must surge or mobilize its resources in response to an event. Congress recognizes the importance of the OIB. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Section 359 directed the Secretary of Defense to develop strategy to improve covered depots and ensure the OIB maintains the capacity and capability to support the readiness and material availability goals of current and future Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems. In response, each service offered maintenance plans and proposed several investment initiatives, but none published an open-source strategy update. An environment marked by Great Power Competition (GPC) requires the OIB to develop a more integrated strategy framed on value creation, that improves readiness and maintains technological superiority.