I understand that the dollar being the world reserve currency and foreign investors recycling profits plays a role in these effects. However, are these speculators and reports overblowing globalization as the primary hinderance in the military's ability to arm itself adequately or should I take this information with a grain of salt as I continue to research? Below are some of the instances I've begun to file as I keep coming across this topic.
- https://share.google/Mquj7bqgcAZJEiiKh
- GAO-25-107283, DEFENSE INSUSTRIAL BASE: Actions Needed to Address Risks Posed by Dependence on Foreign Suppliers (July, 2025)
“We previously reported that domestic companies that offshore their operations or accept foreign investment can help DOD save money and access more technology. But a globalized supply chain can also make it harder for DOD to get what it needs if, for example, other countries cut off U.S. access to critical supplies.”
“According to DOD estimates, 88 percent of the production and 98 percent of the assembly, packaging, and testing of all microelectronics are performed overseas—primarily in Taiwan, South Korea, and China."
"If the good or service is a domestic end product, then the U.S. is identified as the Country of Origin in FPDS. If the good or service is not a domestic end product, then a country code is entered that identifies the one country where the preponderance of the acquisition’s content came from. FPDS does not include country information on other suppliers that provide material or components for those goods or services. The U.S. is identified as the Country of Origin for approximately 96 percent of obligations for goods that DOD procured from fiscal years 2020 through 2024 based on dollar value. DOD officials recognize that they cannot use FPDS to determine where components of goods that DOD procures are produced."
- https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF12645/IF12645.9.pdf#page=2
- CRS – The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense THAAD System (July, 2025)
"The study estimated that 92 THAAD interceptors were used during the conflict out of an estimated supply of 632 interceptors. The study further suggested that it could take three to eight years to replenish the THAAD interceptor stockpile."
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf#page=9
- US National Security Strategy (November, 2025)
"we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations."
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bUERnwSnSA&t=1183s]()
- Ian Pain, CEO of Renk America (October, 2025)
“There has been a recognition in the military community from the warfighters and frontline commands back through to the procurement people in the DoD that their supply chain, their ability to be effective at the combat edge, goes all the way back to the factory gate of the lowest part of the supply chain.
It’s not just the prime contractor who delivers a vehicle. Somewhere below that you’ve got the people who supply the bearings, the oil the whole thing is a very interconnected web.”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOF59C62G9Q&t=1180s
- Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank (October, 2025)
“The United States wants to remain the hegemon. It needs the military power. In order to have the military power, its military needs to be embedded in a military industrial complex that’s vibrant and dynamic. And in order for it to be vibrant and dynamic, it needs to be part of a broader industrial landscape.
So strong manufacturing is directly tied to the continuation of American military power and geopolitical power. Now, the United States has been financializing. So of course it has everything to do with the structural features of the world economy the way China produces, the way Germany produces, the way South Korea produces.
On the American side, it manifests in a lot of money constantly flowing into the dollar zone, pumping up the dollar, financializing the American economy. If you want to send money right now to South Korea, it’s difficult you have to be registered in South Korea to buy stocks. There are all kinds of mechanisms to stop the money from flowing into South Korea.
If we want to put all our money in America right now, we can just grab our phones and send it. Right? So there’s constantly money flowing into the US financializing, bloating Wall Street. All the American firms are bloated, over-estimated, overvalued on the American stock market. It’s all money, money, money. And then American manufacturing suffers. So there’s a whole structural logic to it.”
Are US military supply chains as constrained as analyst and reports suggest because of globalization?
byu/GoldThenCrypto inAskEconomics
Posted by GoldThenCrypto