As demand for arms booms, lack of modernization stymies weapons production
Some small firms at the heart of the defense industry see little benefit to automation and digitization.
SAM SKOVE | OCTOBER 25, 2023 07:16 PM ET
INDUSTRY PENTAGON
U.S. officials are desperate to find ways to crank up weapons production amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and growing tensions with China.
“The task before us is really critical,” said Laura D. Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, who last week announced the government is working on a first-ever national defense industrial strategy, meant to “catalyze a generational change.”
However, deep within defense firms' logistic chains lurks a hidden problem. Some smaller firms, as well as government-owned production facilities, are using a range of outdated equipment—from fax machines to 1980s era software—according to MxD, a Defense-Department funded institute charged with increasing digitization in the defense industrial base.
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2023/10/demand-arms-booms-lack-modernization-stymies-weapons-production/391533/
