CNAS Launches New Initiative on the Future of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

Washington, March 25, 2025 – As global geopolitical risks intensify and defense production continues to waver, the Center for a New American Security’s (CNAS) Defense Program is launching a new initiative aimed at identifying concrete actions to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base to better support the U.S. military to fight and win future wars.

Recent conflicts have exposed shortfalls in the pace, capacity, and resilience of the defense industrial base to meet the demands of modern warfare. Rapid technological advancements and new dynamics in the global strategic environment will put further strain on the defense industrial base, requiring increased innovation and flexibility. Reform is urgently needed for the United States to maintain a diminishing military advantage over adversaries.

“The defense industrial base is the backbone of U.S. military power,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director of the CNAS Defense Program. “Deterrence depends on the industrial base swiftly producing the right types, amounts, and mix of weapons and platforms, and ensuring their delivery to warfighters. This initiative is critical to building a defense industrial base that can rapidly build the weapons needed today and meet the demands of future great power conflict.”

In a comprehensive report released later next week, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director Becca Wasser and Research Assistant Philip Sheers explore the structural reforms needed to improve defense production. From Production Lines to Front Lines: Revitalizing the U.S. Defense Industrial Base for Future Great Power Conflict provides unique, data-driven analysis and innovative solutions.

This new CNAS initiative will bring together bipartisan policymakers, industry leaders, and national security experts to develop concrete, actionable recommendations. As part of this effort, CNAS will convene a series of roundtables that will address key areas such as:

• Balancing building high-end capabilities with scalable low-cost systems needed to support future warfighting;
• Streamlining acquisition processes to accelerate production;
• Adopting new manufacturing techniques to speed and scale production; and
  
• Creating more resilient supply chains.

Findings and recommendations from this new initiative will be published in summer of 2025.

For more information about the initiative or media inquiries, please contact Alexa Whaley at  [email protected].