To counter China, US must urgently reform Pentagon, says first-of-its-kind report

A senior US defence department official on Thursday issued a warning emphasising the urgent need for reform within the extensive Pentagon system if the US aims to effectively address the “pacing challenge” posed by Beijing.

The organisation is known for its lengthy decision-making processes, sluggish weapons development, and a tendency to over-design items that could be produced more cost-effectively by private companies.

According to a South China Morning Post report, the US on Thursday released its first National Industrial Defence Strategy, acknowledging that a declining industrial base, supply-chain constraints and the outflow of weapons to Ukraine have left America vulnerable as companies supplying the Pentagon face mounting frustration over its lumbering pace.

“We know that it’s not easy always to work with the Department of Defence. Many of you in the audience tell me that regularly,” South China Morning Post quoted Laura Taylor-Kale, the US assistant secretary of defence for industrial base policy, a newly created position, as saying.

“Well, we’re here. So what is it that we need in order to move forward? What is it that we need in order to be able to really build the industrial ecosystem that we need, that our warfighters need, in order to meet the pacing threats and current challenges?” Taylor-Kale asked.

According to the report, Taylor-Kale noted that various factors have prompted Washington to recognise the vulnerability of its military logistics system.

These factors encompass the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, China’s dominant role in lithium processing crucial for electric vehicles and green technologies, and Beijing’s recent imposition of export restrictions on gallium and germanium, essential components in numerous electronics.  Additionally, the stockpiled weapons dispatched to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion will require several years to replenish.

Meanwhile, the US lags behind in the development of highly maneuverable hypersonic weapons, which both Beijing and Moscow have already deployed.

“As many of us have analysed the Chinese industrial base, the US’s pacing threat, the main global competitor, it is moving swiftly, building weapons systems in preparation for a possible war with the United States,” Seth Jones of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, told South China Morning Post.

“So the defence industrial base is an essential aspect of deterrence as much as it is for warfighting,” Jones added.

The strategy also recommended that the Pentagon team up with Indo-Pacific allies and partners to counter China, as Washington has done with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and others to assist Ukraine.

“We can’t afford to wait. We have seen over the last few years, the importance of why we need resilient supply chains,” said Taylor-Kale.

The importance is not just for “us domestically, but also for our close allies and partners”, she added. “We think that the time for action is now.”