Does DoD need a public relations campaign for mobilizing industry?
In a previous post, I discussed how Assistant Secretary for War Mobilization Louis Johnson had traveled the country prior to World War II making hundreds […]
industrial mobilization
How commercial industry helped saved the day in World War II
In the Pacific theater of World War II, allied landings on islands were challenged by shallow coral atolls that wrecked the normal landing craft available. […]
Stockpiling critical minerals must happen early and at scale
Here’s an excerpt from the War Production Board’s history of industrial mobilization for World War II, Industrial Mobilization For War: Volume 1 Program and Administration. […]
CSIS report on inadequate surge capacity for munitions
This table on surge capacity from Mark Cancian at CSIS has been making the rounds but I’ll repost it here because it is so important. […]
Getting to the battle fastest with the mostest
A post-World War II cartoon gets to a deep truth in defense acquisition. It shows American tanks on trial, supposedly for being outgunned and relatively […]
Air Force supply chains are not ready to surge for war
Here’s a slice from an Aviation Week article, USAF Logistics Chief Raises Urgent Warning On Surge Capacity: A recent internal study shows more than nine out […]
How the China narrative may be changing
Right now, there’s this strong narrative that China’s government can do no wrong. China is unstoppable juggernaut. This view is about eight years out of […]
500 Javelin-per-day requirement in Ukraine: Is it reasonable and what could it cost?
I want to come back to an article from the weekly headlines real quickly: The Ukrainians have submitted similar lists in recent weeks but a […]
Industrial mobilization for WWII: How 20,000 companies made production commitments prior to war
Here is a piece on how assistant secretary of war for industrial mobilization Louis Johnson approached readiness in 1938 — prior to the break out […]
Lessons in mobilization: The industrial base is too small and too slow
In the event of major war, the identified industrial base dedicated to the Army would be unable to produce sufficient materiel to support combat consumption […]
Is the US military in a bubble, unfit for attrition warfare?
If you look back historically, there are very few situations where one side has a big enough technology advantage that it actually causes a win-loss […]
Redefining military readiness for Great Power Competition
Under the current readiness paradigm, our answer to “what needs to be ready?” is “the stuff we have today.” However, as we observed earlier, the […]
Make industrial mobilization cool again — or is it for the first time?
The tradition of the Department of Defense is to define a weapon system end item, then fund that end item and the supplier base through […]
Effectiveness over Efficiency: Preparing the US Industrial Base for Mobilization
Mike Petters, President and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries: “Lack of resiliency comes from an overemphasis on efficiency at expense of risk management. I was […]
Nassim Taleb says prepare for the worst-case in fat-tailed events like pandemics and war
Russ Roberts: Another way to say it–and, again, to put it into folksy terms that I also got from you–is that you care about–you don’t […]