Axios Event: Industry experts consider ways to improve the U.S. defense industrial base

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Workforce, incentive structures and consolidation among contractors are just a few of the issues experts mentioned at an Axios roundtable discussion about the main chokepoints hindering modernization in the U.S. industrial base.

• This roundtable discussion event was sponsored by McKinsey & Company.

Why it matters: The U.S. is struggling to shore up its industrial base to embrace new technologies, compete with adversaries and meet this moment of transformational change in global warfare.

What they're saying: "If you're a big company, workforce tends to be the biggest challenge," AUVSI CEO and president Michael Robbins said.

• "The answer is speed and scale," Forterra head of strategy Paul Benfield said.
• "I think it is a combination of incentives and discretions … there is almost no discretion in the acquisition side," American Battery Factory president John Kem said.

Tapping into the defense tech startup ecosystem is one way the Defense Department is trying to improve the uptake of new and emerging technologies on the battlefield.

• "A lot of these large defense primes have the luxury of longer acquisition timelines," DTI program manager Rakhee Khambati said.

• "Startups don't have that luxury, and I think that's really what we need to do is bring more startups into the ecosystem," she continued.

Sponsored content:

McKinsey & Company senior partner Kevin Sachs said this is "an important time" for the defense industry in preparing to meet the needs of our national defense capabilities.

• "We recognize to do that is going to require substantial shifts in our industrial base in terms of its capabilities, its technology, its ways of working," Sachs said.