The time has come to industrialize the defense manufacturing base

High-intensity military operations in contested environments have deepened a longstanding need to re-engineer the U.S. defense industrial base. The challenge is that missiles, interceptors, and critical components can be consumed faster than they are produced. 

With that said, the conditions for industrializing production of these and other munitions appear to be favorable as artificial intelligence spawns efficient new processes, actionable product-life-cycle data proliferates, and energized startups innovate.

As Deloitte observes in its report “Throughput, Not Just Innovation, May Define the Future of US Defense Manufacturing and Industrial Scale,”[i], demand during conflict doesn’t just ramp up – it spikes. Procurement award-to-delivery timelines often span two to four years.[ii] Production capacity also varies widely across systems. 

To improve throughput, industrialization of the defense manufacturing base is critical. This includes manufacturing new types of weapons with an emphasis on cost-effectiveness.[iii] So, the goal is not only replenishing consumed munitions but producing affordable, fit-for-purpose weapons at a faster rate.

The U.S. Navy, for example, appears to be making some headway. It has explicitly sought lower-cost kinetic counter‑unmanned aircraft system interceptors to address the unfavorable cost exchange of using multimillion-dollar missiles against drones costing thousands.[iv]

Accelerating certified throughput

So how can manufacturers start to change the dynamic?

Deloitte has explored industrialization challenges with numerous clients and industry leaders. As Deloitte’s report states, sub-tier fragility, qualification throughput limits, quality-at-rate challenges, workforce gaps, and compliance requirements can constrain the industrial system. The challenge is complex, but transformation is possible as seen in industries like health care, automotive, and space.

The current conditions are agreeable for an industry transformation. For example, venture funding of new defense tech companies is at an all-time high, approaching $20 billion in Q1.[v] At the same time, it's easier than ever to design new products thanks to AI, advanced simulations, and digital twins.[vi] Strategic frameworks like digital threads can help synthesize disparate strands of data at every stage of the product lifecycle.[vii] To help fuel these strategies, there’s more data than ever about munition performance, consumption, manufacturing, supply chains, and logistics, all of which can be harnessed with AI agents to drive throughput improvements.

The current policy environment also includes recent executive orders that emphasize delivery speed, production throughput, contractor accountability, and acquisition modernization. [viii]

Emphasizing agility 

Prime contractors may find themselves under increasing pressure to reinvent themselves to become more agile. They have the potential to meet the moment, but nimble defense tech startups often wield new leverage. In fact, some companies are now proactively pitching their potentially transformative wares to influential defense officials rather than waiting for RFPs and protracted bakeoffs.

Notwithstanding some favorable conditions for industrializing the defense manufacturing base, maintaining optimal ready workforce levels is expected to be a challenge. The defense sector has unique security requirements, including extensive background checks and rigorous credentialing like the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CCMC 2.0), a throughput constraint for sub-tier suppliers.[ix] And civilian tech, especially AI, can be an attractive option for skilled engineers because of its easier point of entry. The defense sector is still attractive, however, in that few industries can match directly contributing to national security.

It takes an ecosystem

Achieving transformation in the defense industry is likely to be an ecosystem-level challenge rather than a single-program optimization problem. The challenge in both new and existing programs is less “can we build a new weapon?” and more “can we build it repeatedly, compliantly, and at rate?”

Ecosystem design that focuses on producibility, qualification throughput, quality maturity, and multi-tier readiness can become a competitive advantage. This approach can create repeatable mechanisms that connect innovators, primes, sub-tier suppliers, and demand signals into a production system that can scale with rate, quality, and delivery certainty.

The time has come. And it appears promising.

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Lindsey Berckman leads Deloitte’s Aerospace & Defense practice and is also a Smart Manufacturing leader in Deloitte’s industrial manufacturing sector, with more than 15 years of experience serving at the intersection of production, operations, and technology as a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP.