How To Build Both National Security And Economic Prosperity
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Consider the drone: Although it is critical to national defense and prosperity, nearly all its components are made in China.
A country's economic security-its ability to generate both national security and economic prosperity-is grounded in it having significant technological capabilities that outpace those of its adversaries and complement those of its allies. Though this is a principle well known throughout history, the move over the last few decades toward globalization and offshoring of technologically advanced industrial capacity has made ensuring a nation state's security and economic prosperity increasingly problematic. A broad span of technologies ranging from automation and secure communications to energy storage and vaccine design are the basis for wider economic prosperity-and high priorities for governments seeking to maintain national security. However, the necessary capabilities do not spring up overnight. They rely upon long decades of development, years of accumulated knowledge, and robust supply chains.
For the US and, especially, its allies in NATO, a particular problem has emerged: a missing middle" in technology investment. Insufficient capital is allocated toward the maturation of breakthroughs in critical technologies to ensure that they can be deployed at scale. Investment is allocated either toward the rapid deployment of existing technologies or to scientific ideas that are decades away from delivering practical capability or significant economic impact (for example, quantum computers). But investment in scaling manufacturing technologies, learning while doing, and maturing of emerging technologies to contribute to a next-generation industrial base, is too often absent. Without this middle-ground commitment, the United States and its partners lack the production know-how that will be crucial for tomorrow's batteries, the next generation of advanced computing, alternative solar photovoltaic cells, and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
While this once mattered only for economic prosperity, it is now a concern for national security too-especially given that China has built strong supply chains and other domestic capabilities that confer both economic security and significant geopolitical leverage.
Consider drone technology. Military doctrine has shifted toward battlefield technology that relies upon armies of small, relatively cheap products enabled by sophisticated software-from drones above the battlefield to autonomous boats to CubeSats in space.
Drones have played a central role in the war in Ukraine. First-person viewer (FPV) drones-those controlled by a pilot on the ground via a video stream-are often strapped with explosives to act as precision kamikaze munitions and have been essential to Ukraine's frontline defenses. While many foundational technologies for FPV drones were pioneered in the West, China now dominates the manufacturing of drone components and systems, which ultimately enables the country to have a significant influence on the outcome of the war.
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