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At a Glance: the U.S. Defense Industrial Base
An analysis piece examines the structural vulnerabilities of the U.S. defense industrial base, highlighting that risks accumulate in lower-tier suppliers rather than at the prime contractor level. The piece illustrates how platforms such as ships, aircraft, and munitions depend on a multi-tiered supply chain where small, capital-constrained firms operate as single-source providers of critical components and materials. These hidden fragilities pose systemic risks to U.S. defense production capaci