Defense Industrial Base: DOD Efforts to Develop Domestic Biomanufacturing , February 26 , 2026
Defense Industrial Base: DOD Efforts to Develop Domestic Biomanufacturing , February 26 , 2026
From the report: "The Department of Defense’s (DOD) 2023 National Defense Industrial Strategy states that developing and sustaining capabilities critical to national security requires resilient, healthy, dynamic, and secure supply chains. Over the past 3 decades, however, the U.S. defense industrial base has shrunk, and manufacturing capacity has waned. As a result, DOD is exposed to risks that threaten our national security, according to the strategy. Mitigating these risks, which include an over-reliance on foreign and single-source suppliers, is essential for DOD to avoid supply disruptions and ensure that the industrial base can meet current and future needs.
DOD has identified biotechnology and biomanufacturing—the use of biological systems to create and produce new materials—as a critical area of investment within the U.S. DOD is investing in biotechnology research to develop materials critical for producing, operating, and sustaining its weapon systems. DOD also intends to use biomanufactured materials (biomaterials) to enhance capabilities to replace or augment domestic production of critical materials where traditional manufacturing cannot meet current or predicted defense needs. Examples of biomaterials that DOD is developing include novel fuels and explosives.
To expand domestic biomanufacturing to the scale necessary to support the defense industrial base, DOD determined that it needs more infrastructure in the U.S. Without investments in biomanufacturing, DOD considers the U.S. defense industrial base to be increasingly dependent on foreign sources. This dependency makes the U.S. more vulnerable to supply chain disruptions initiated by adversarial nations, such as China. At the same time, China is investing in biotechnology and biomanufacturing for the purpose of achieving strategic dominance in these areas."
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