Conference Presentation, Keynote
Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy
- Current U.S. defense capabilities lack secret advanced technology silos to deter large-scale conflicts or fundamentally alter future warfare, with adversaries like China, Russia, and smaller states actively modernizing via consumer sector technologies to gain asymmetric advantages.
- Future conflicts are predicted to feature autonomous armies of cheap, intelligent systems, such as drone swarms and precision missiles, which U.S. war games indicate will result in defeat or dire outcomes for the United States against China without immediate systemic changes.
- Strategic modernization requires a pivot from hardware-centric to software-first weapon systems and a restructuring of acquisitions to focus on defined problems rather than specific requirements, necessitating the involvement of tens of thousands of engineers and the creation of dozens of new innovative companies outside traditional defense sectors.
- The defense industrial base faces critical risks of stagnation unless venture capitalists increase risk tolerance to fund diverse areas including logistics and security, while government officials must restructure incentive systems to recruit engineers currently focused on commercial applications and compel a workforce shift away from non-defense tasks.