The U.S. military and its domestic contractors are overly reliant on foreign suppliers for key products, a scenario that could pose a threat to national security, a report written on behalf of American manufacturers and recently released said.
“U.S. national security and the health of the nation’s defense industrial base are in jeopardy because of an over-reliance on foreign suppliers for critical defense materials,” the report said. “Foreign sourcing puts America’s military readiness in the hands of potentially unreliable supplier nations and undermines the ability to develop capabilities needed to win on future battlefields.”
The American Manufacturing Association commissioned the report that was authored by Guardian Six Consulting, which is run by a former Army general.
The report, Remaking American Security: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities & National Security Risks Across the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, largely focuses on products manufactured in China, which is considered a U.S. rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The roughly 320-page document said the United States is “completely dependent” on one Chinese company for the solid rocket fuel called butanetriol and used to propel Hellfire missiles.
“As current U.S. supplies diminish, our military will be reliant on the Chinese supplier to provide this critical chemical–butanetriol–in the quantities needed to maintain this missile system,” the report said.
Hellfire missiles are surface-to-ground missiles deployed on airplanes and helicopters, and have been used prominently by Predator drones to target al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
The United States imports 91 percent of the earth element lanthanum, used in night vision devices, from China as well, the report said.
“This near-total dependence creates a risk that China could withhold access to lanthanum to force up the price, inhibit a U.S. technological advantage, pressure the United States to resolve disputes on terms favorable to China, or worse, completely withhold supplies,” the report said.
To shift the trend, the report recommends more federal investment in high-technology industries, better enforcement of existing laws to support the industrial base, developing more domestic sources of key natural resources, and addressing the concerns raised in the report in the national military and national security strategies, including the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review.