Transportation: March 30, 2025

Transportation

The transportation industry has long been the keystone of America’s security, military strength, and economic prowess. Today, challenges besiege this vital industry, directly impacting its ability to meet national resourcing requirements and continued economic expansion. The most significant challenges are labor shortages, inadequate infrastructure, and barriers to automation (to include cyber security threats), each of which is impacted by burdensome regulation. The government, in coordination with industry stakeholders, must address these challenges by making strategic investments in infrastructure, reviewing, revising or rescinding current regulations, and implementing new policies to incentivize growth and industry efficiency.

Weapons May 30, 2017

The Future of the Weapons Industry: 2018 and Beyond

The United States (US) Weapons Industry remains robust, with sufficient support from the private sector to underpin current U.S. National Security missions. Although we continue in an era of constrained budgets, demand for weapons will not diminish. The industrial base (private and public sectors) is able to balance maintaining basic infrastructure, providing direct support to ongoing conflicts, and developing competitive strategies to ensure the United States' technical and deployable primacy in the world. The competing demands amongst the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and armed services add extra tension to budget constraints. Substantial efforts by both Congress and the defense establishment to reduce waste associated with defense acquisition do not focus enough on ensuring the health of the defense weapons industrial base. The USG should conduct an assessment on current Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funding, focus strategies to improve collaboration between defense and industry laboratories, continue revisions of export controls and regulations to support greater opportunities to increase competition, and ensure improvement of the acquisition processes. Without a comprehensive assessment and focused improvement efforts, the United States' Defense Industrial Base can expect diminution of its capacity, innovation, and technological advantage to resource National Security missions.

Weapons (Formerly Munitions) May 31, 2024

Hypersonic and Directed Energy Weapons: Emerging Capabilities Necessary for Competition and Containment

Current global conflicts underscore significant shifts in modern warfare, particularly the rising costs of defending against small, affordable systems and the strategic advantage of undetected, on-demand strikes. In response, the U.S. is investing heavily in hypersonic and directed energy weapons. However, despite years of testing and billions of dollars spent, these technologies have yet to be deployed at scale. The Department of Defense (DoD) needs a cohesive strategy to effectively advance these initiatives, as current requirements are unclear, and development efforts have led to stalled progress. Additionally, the lack of collaboration with allies has resulted in underutilized resources and capabilities. To expedite the development and deployment of credible hypersonic and directed energy weapons, the DoD must establish centralized authorities and prioritize partnerships. These weapons are critical to maintaining U.S. technological superiority, especially as peer adversaries like China and Russia have developed similar capabilities. Emerging technologies, such as hypersonic and directed energy systems, are reshaping warfare, as demonstrated in the Ukraine and Israel conflicts, where low-cost drones overwhelm expensive kinetic interceptors. To enhance national and global security, particularly in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. must strengthen its deterrence strategies and leverage these advanced technologies. While these weapons offer strategic advantages, critics question their cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and overall utility, making the need for efficient and rapid development even more pressing.

Weapons: May 30, 2023

The Need for Speed: The Case for Continued Development of Hypersonic and Directed Energy Weapons

As the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and to a lesser extent Russia, rapidly develop and field hypersonic and directed energy weapons, the United States (US) faces a strategic military capabilities gap. The PRC’s arsenal of hypersonic weapons extends its anti-access area denial capabilities throughout the South China Sea, increasing the required standoff distances for US military forces to operate in a conflict safely. To prevent the PRC from reshaping the liberal world order, the US should continue to develop offensive and defensive hypersonic and directed energy weapons to complement its current arsenal while addressing defense industrial base issues, including infrastructure, supply chain, and human capital, and fostering cooperation with allies and partners.