Maintaining the U.S. Defense Sector’s Competitive Edge

American power and prosperity are destined to decline unless Washington can reverse the decline of U.S. manufacturing capacity and the toxic effects of decades of defense consolidation. In 2022, the Defense Department assessed that it was “increasingly reliant on a small number of contractors for critical defense capabilities” and that current policies and investments were not supportive of a defense ecosystem built for peer conflict. While there is no doubt the United States remains the world’s leading technology innovator, the Pentagon struggles to compete with China’s ability to produce new military capabilities at scale.