E31 – The plan to fix the US military's industrial base

Don’t miss our newsletter! Mike and Jake host Dr. Christine (Chris) Michienzi, supply chain expert and former senior Pentagon executive, on the US government’s recently released National Defense Industrial Strategy—plan to revive its fragile defense industrial base. With 30 years of experience in this sector, she was recently the Chief Technology Officer for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy and the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment. Chris knows all the ins and outs of the woes of the industrial base—she saw the issues first-hand when she led the Pentagon’s efforts to surge munition production lines to support Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Hear just how big the problem is—and how it’s WAY harder to fix than it may sound. For those interested in #defense #military #business #technology #nationalsecurity #industry #supplychains #logistics ---- Links! • Sign up for our ⁠amazing newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Jake Chapman X (@vc) • Mike Benitez (LinkedIn) • Chris Michienzi (LinkedIn) • 2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy ---- Follow us on... • ⁠Instagram⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ • ⁠LinkedIn⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ---- Show Notes (01:27) Intro (02:36) investing supply chains (6:26) CTO of the supply chain office (8:11) what is the Defense Industrial Base? (9:52) the 2023 NDIS   (17:16) efficiency vs resiliency (23:40) don’t compare this to WWII (26:52) multi-year buy authorities (30:28) reverse engineering obsolete parts (31:40) ball bearings (33:28) incentivize companies? (35:05) the investor side of the equation (37:10) solid rocket motors (40:15) what does success look like? (42:10) the F-35 magnet story (44:03) how supply chain visibility doesn’t work (45:58) Chinse brushless motors (48:31) COVID-19 raised supply chain awareness (49:31) crystal ball of badness (51:33) isolation the solution? (54:11) magic wand for Chris (56:21) metrics for success (59:30) outro