Multiple alt causes to DIB decline that outweigh the effect of IP

Vital Signs 2024: U.S. Defense Industrial Base Still Facing Headwinds; National Defense- NDIA’s Business and Technology Magazine;

The present U.S. defense industrial base reflects a premium policy­makers placed on just-in-time supply chains and lowest-cost technically acceptable contract awards. It also reflects outdated assumptions regarding workforce availability. It is a system built for convenience and predictability, and it is an industrial base the U.S. government resourced for low-intensity conflict. To foundationally transform the defense industrial base, the government and the private sector must embrace a synergistic partnership and disruptive thinking. In 1940, then-Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George Marshall wrote: “For almost 20 years we had all the time and almost none of the money; today we have all the money and no time.” Simply put, time, funding and consistency are immutable factors for both military readiness and defense industrial readiness. The National Defense Industrial Association’s “Vital Signs” report series is designed to track the progress made across the five strategic pillars required for a strong, diverse, resilient and ready defense industrial base in an era of strategic competition. The five pillars are: securing budget stability and sufficiency; advancing Defense Department digital modernization and transformation; facilitating foreign military sales modernization and technology integration with allies and partners; restoring industrial readiness, capacity and infrastructure; and enabling more resilient supply chains. In “Vital Signs 2023,” NDIA noted the powerhouses of industrial readiness — stable and predictable budgets; an experienced and specialized workforce; diversified and modern infrastructure; manufacturing innovation; and sufficient, including idle, capacity — have all atrophied under the combined transition to a service-based economy with a premium on just-in-time commercial supply chains. The report also noted that for the last 30 years, on a bipartisan basis, the U.S. government failed to resource the industrial footprint required to prevail in near-peer conflict.