Back to news

April 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

COVID-19 Alters DOD View Of Supply Chain

Lee Hudson

The spread of the novel coronavirus has changed the way the Defense Department views its supply chain and the military is beginning to understand where the industrial base is “hyper efficient but very brittle,” according to the U.S. Navy acquisition executive.

The Pentagon is discovering there are components made by either a single supplier or an overseas supplier that is impacted by COVID-19, Hondo Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told reporters April 28.

Geurts said the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the Pentagon to dig deeper into understanding various supply chain elements. This allows the military to begin making deliberate choices in where it needs additional “resilience” or “flexibility, he said.

“We meet now weekly at the department level to have a look through industrial base concerns, issues, hot spots or strategic challenges,” Geurts said. “That's one of the areas that I view, when we come out of this, that needs to be a normal course of business.”

The Pentagon identified Mexico and India as countries where the defense industrial base is being hit hard by supplier closures, Ellen Lord, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters April 20.

Geurts said it is not that other nations do not deem defense work as essential, but they are facing different circumstances with the novel coronavirus. His team is looking at various programs where there are overseas supply chains and understanding how they are operating or not during this time.

The Navy not only has many contracts with suppliers in Mexico, but also in Italy and Spain.

“We're just keeping an eye on it,” Geurts said. “We have flexibility and may have programs that rephase elements of construction or use stock we have on hand.”

Separately, since commercial aviation is being hard hit by COVID-19, the Pentagon is specifically focusing on propulsion contractors to put in orders during this time by rephasing work.

For example, the military did not intend to purchase an engine until three months from now, but because of the global pandemic will submit an order early.

“There'll be a natural limitation of funding, so we can't do that infinitely, but we're looking to leverage all the different tool sets we have,” Geurts said.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/supply-chain/covid-19-alters-dod-view-supply-chain

On the same subject

  • Pentagon awards $415M contract for machines to disinfect N95 masks

    April 16, 2020 | International, Other Defence

    Pentagon awards $415M contract for machines to disinfect N95 masks

    The Pentagon on Monday announced a $415 million contract for 60 machines that will stretch the use of dwindling N95 masks, allowing the scarce personal protective equipment to be disinfected and reused up to 20 times. The Defense Department awarded the contract for “Battelle Memorial Institute Critical Care Decontamination Systems (CCDS), that can decontaminate up to 80,000 used N95 respirators per system per day,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in a statement. The machines — which will all be available by early May for distribution by FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services — together could sterilize up to 4.8 million masks per day and almost 34 million per week, according to Andrews. The statement added that two systems had already been delivered to New York, and one each to Boston, Chicago, Tacoma, Wash., and Columbus, Ohio. States are struggling to keep hospitals and medical centers stocked with PPE crucial to fighting the coronavirus outbreak, and the National Guard last week said a shortage of such gear might be hindering its ability to administer coronavirus tests. The Pentagon has highlighted its efforts to provide N95 masks to the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Defense Secretary Mark Esper in March first announcing that it would give 5 million respirator masks to HHS. Esper later pledged another 5 million from DOD stockpiles. And on Saturday, the Pentagon announced a $133 million project to create more than 39 million masks in 90 days under the Defense Production Act. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/492611-pentagon-awards-415m-contract-for-machines-to-disinfect-n95-masks

  • Artis debuts vehicle active protection that tackles threats from above

    January 6, 2024 | International, Land

    Artis debuts vehicle active protection that tackles threats from above

    Artis is unveiling an Active Protection System it says addresses a capability gap the US Army and others are looking to fill; defending attacks from above.

  • U.S. Government Secures $73 Million Contract with UVision and Mistral for Hero-120SF Loitering Munitions

    June 6, 2024 | International, Aerospace

    U.S. Government Secures $73 Million Contract with UVision and Mistral for Hero-120SF Loitering Munitions

    The contract includes munitions, spare parts, engineering change proposals, new equipment training, and conversion from organic precision fires-mounted to medium-range precision strike systems.

All news