How can allies help with US defense production?

The National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) has already had a positive impact on the defense production industry since it was released in January 2024.

Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, recently spoke at the 2024 Sea-Air-Space maritime exposition to further highlight the four priorities outlined in the NDIS: building resilient supply chains, investing in workforce readiness, leveraging flexible acquisition strategies, and enabling economic deterrence.

While most of those priorities are being tackled primarily within the U.S. borders, Taylor-Kale believes we can build a resilient defense supply chain with a little help from our friends. AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region among the U.S., U.K., and Australia was formed in 2021 to help exchange technologies among the three nations. AUKUS isn’t the only partnership forming to help defense production as Norway is expanding its capacity to produce 155mm artillery rounds and Germany’s Rheinmetall is working to build a munitions factory in the Ukraine. Taylor-Kale also announced there are agreements in place with India and Japan to coproduce and acquire advanced capabilities while efforts to reach agreements are underway with South Korea and the Philippines.

Forming good relationships could also help with economic deterrence as Congress has named Australia and the U.K. along with Canada as domestic sources eligible for the Defense Production Act – those who can apply for grants and make proposals to the Defense Industrial Base Consortium.

However, another priority may need to get the focus for the others to be achieved.

“There is a global challenge for a skilled workforce,” said Taylor-Kale at 2024 Sea-Air-Space. “I hear this all the time, not just from American industry and our colleagues here, but also from international industry as well as our international partners. Younger generations generally show less interest in pursuing manufacturing careers or lack the science, technology, engineering, and math skills needed for industrial work.”

So while the NDIS has only been in place for a few months and the positive impact has been felt, more workers will be needed, domestic and foreign, to knock out the four priorities laid out in the strategy.