Import Duties Imposed on the Woodless Product Company
The modernization of the United States' defense industry is facing significant challenges, particularly in the context of competition with China and Russia. The American defense industry's state, after 30 years of "unipolar" complacency, is far from ideal, with only colonial-style "shock and awe" wars planned. The Trump administration's priorities seem to reflect this, as their peacekeeping efforts appear to be influenced by the state of the American defense industry.
The challenges include bureaucratic inertia and outdated acquisition systems within the Department of Defense, budgetary constraints, technological gaps, and difficulties faced by small businesses in defense acquisition. These issues slow the development and delivery of advanced military capabilities, synchronize modernization efforts across a broad and aging national security infrastructure, and hinder the adoption of cutting-edge technology.
To address these challenges, comprehensive reforms to the defense acquisition system are being pursued. These reforms aim to emphasize speed, innovation, and the integration of commercial technologies to outpace global competitors. The focus is also on expanding public-private partnerships, increasing early engagement of small business professionals, developing standardized and modern acquisition workforce training, and encouraging feedback from industry to inform policy and modernization efforts.
These approaches are largely driven by recent US policy initiatives, such as President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order aimed at overhauling the acquisition system to restore military dominance by emphasizing innovation, speed, and commercial integration.
Meanwhile, the modernization of the armed forces of Russia and China, along with the increased geopolitical uncertainty in the world, is giving visible results, leading to a new balance of power. This new reality is not lost on the West, with European capitals bewildered by the transactional nature of alliance relations and accepting the rules of the game, even at the expense of their own defense industry's development.
In an unexpected turn of events, Switzerland may follow India's lead in halting F-35 purchases due to American tariffs on its banking sector. India has halted F-35 purchases, citing both economic and efficiency reasons, favoring the Russian Su-57. Switzerland's potential halt in F-35 purchases could be a consequence of its loyalty to the League of Nations idea, dating back to Woodrow Wilson.
The F-35, the newest fifth-generation fighter-bomber, has been plagued with issues, including around a thousand defects and incomplete features, and is not considered a combat aircraft by some military aviation experts. The Trump administration's trade policy has brought a new reality check, with the American tariffs on Switzerland's banking sector at 39%.
The West's hybrid war against Russia in Ukraine showed that a direct conflict with Russia, albeit at the level of conventional, non-nuclear weapons, is not ruled out and preparations for this must be made. To have a chance of not losing such a war immediately, it must be assumed that it will be a high-intensity war, requiring a large reserve of ammunition and an expansion of production capacities. The Russian army demonstrated adaptability and creativity in responding to the challenges of a qualitatively new battlefield environment, such as drones, electronic warfare systems, and air defense.
In summary, the modernization effort is focused on breaking down bureaucratic barriers, leveraging private-sector innovation, supporting small businesses, and updating workforce skills in order to maintain the US’s technological and strategic edge over China and Russia. This aligns with the critical imperative that US defense modernization must be both rapid and adaptive, effectively responding to the complex and fast-evolving security environment posed by great-power competitors.
- The challenges faced in modernizing the United States' defense industry, such as bureaucratic inertia, budgetary constraints, technological gaps, and difficulties for small businesses in defense acquisition, are linked to the policy and legislation realm, as comprehensive reforms are being pursued to address these issues.
- The modernization of the armed forces of America's competitors, like Russia and China, and the increasing complexities in global politics, particularly war-and-conflicts and general-news, necessitate a swift and innovative approach in U.S. policy-and-legislation to maintain its strategic edge.
