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Aerospace Industrial Base Can’t Handle The Future: Mitchell Institute
The report, Building an Agile Force: The Imperative for Speed and Adaptation in the U.S. Aerospace Industrial Base, cites three critical industrial base problems that the Air Force must address if it is to meet the goals of Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown’s “Accelerate Change or Lose” strategy.- Lack of competition among today’s few, vertically integrated mega-corporations, resulting from a paucity of development opportunities. The report notes that in the 1950s there were 19 companies building fighter aircraft; now there are two.
- A shift in defense sector skill sets from those needed to innovate to those focused on integration. This focus “limits innovation,” because it is tied to legacy platforms and thus creates a “barrier to advancing capability.”
- “Sustainment as a primary profit center disincentivizes innovation and new designs.”
Aerospace Industrial Base Can’t Handle The Future: Mitchell Institute - Breaking Defense
The F-35 aside, the report recommends that the Air Force "resist future participation in any joint aircraft procurement or development programs."
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