U.S. policymakers are intensely concerned about global defense supply chains and for good reason. Renewed great-power competition has elevated the importance of national defense and the industrial base that supports it. This includes the United States’ sourcing of strategic materials, which are required to build the weapons systems and defense capabilities utilized by the U.S. military. Just last year the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the fragility of our access to these materials.
Let’s assume the government is willing to toss its Naval Shipbuilding Plan out the window and that the US is willing to sell us Virginia class boats off-the-shelf from US shipyards. What would it cost?