18 June 2024

US Army, Navy reduce dependence on China for ‘critical technology’

LAUREN C. WILLIAMS

Last year, the U.S. Navy reduced the number of Chinese suppliers in its “critical technologies” supply chains by 40 percent. The Army achieved a 17 percent reduction from 2022 to 2023. But the Air Force and defense agencies increased their dependence on China, according to a new report by a government-data analysis company.

“When we're working with these program offices on a day-to-day basis, it remains just problem after problem after problem. And I think the good-news story is that…the department, in places, in certain spots, is really starting to become proactive about managing their supply chains,” Tara Murphy Dougherty, Govini’s chief executive officer, told reporters Wednesday, ahead of the report’s release.

The report, built with Govini’s Ark data-analytics platform, looked at Pentagon purchases of 15 so-called critical technologies: biotechnologies, data interfaces, nuclear modernization, space, communications and networks, engines, advanced manufacturing, robotics and autonomy, advanced engineering materials, AI and machine learning, hypersonics, clean energy and storage, microelectronics, advanced computing, and directed energy.

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