U.S. DoD Releases Report on Health of U.S. Industrial Base

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released this month its annual report to Congress on industrial capabilities. The report reflects ongoing (DoD) concern about the challenges facing the nation’s industrial base and recommends “continued and accelerated national focus over the coming decade” to preserve American leadership. Importantly, it warns that advancements in 5G, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and quantum computing will not “wave away” the underlying issues confronting DoD readiness and superiority.

In a snapshot of the electronics industry, the report concludes that foreign dependency and diminishing manufacturing sources and materials shortages (DMSMS) continue to be the primary risks. The “decline of the U.S. printed circuit board” manufacturing also gets called out as does IPC-1791 and federal efforts to establish a trusted supply chain for PCBs and PCBAs.