Industrial security

America’s industrial base is at risk, and the military may feel the consequences

Underneath the rosy picture of a strong U.S. defense industry lies a demographic challenge for the workforce and contraction issues, a new government study has concluded.

The annual Industrial Capabilities report, quietly released May 17 by the Pentagon’s Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, found that America’s defense industry continued to outperform other industrial sectors in fiscal 2017.

However, long-term trends “continue to threaten the health of the industrial base, limit innovation, and reduce U.S. competitiveness in the global markets,” the report states.

The greatest challenge that could harm domestic defense capabilities is the demographics of the workforce. Only 39 percent of the current workforce is under the age of 45. And while jobs in the aerospace and defense sectors are seen positively by the majority of young professionals, only 1.5 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. have a science degree.