United States
Australia
United Kingdom
Europe
New Zealand
Canada
With future conflicts expected to strain stockpiles and disrupt traditional supply chains, defense officials brought together about 60 manufacturing and logistics specialists for a three-day “Distributed Production Wargame” designed to test how quickly the United States can scale production and generate critical parts at the point of need.
The event, held Sept. 1–3 and co-hosted by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Energy Resilience and Optimization and the Defense Logistics Agency, drew participants from across the services, other federal organizations, and industry.
“Supercharging America’s manufacturing capacity is central to our national defense,” said DLA Logistics Operations Director Air Force Maj. Gen. David Sanford. “This wargame adapts the legacy of mobilization from World War II to supercharging the industrial base in the era of artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.”
In opening remarks, Sanford invoked the lessons of 1939–45 and pressed participants to incorporate tools such as additive manufacturing and AI to overhaul sustainment models built for a different era.
Teams were organized around four communities: the traditional defense industrial base, foreign suppliers, the organic industrial base, and prospective contributors outside today’s defense ecosystem that could plug into a new Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network.
Created by the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, the CRMN is intended to help the Joint Force endure a long fight by rapidly backfilling consumables and damaged components through a vetted pool of alternate producers when primary vendors are disrupted or fall short.
Across the exercise, teams tackled a series of manufacturing and logistics problems to surface choke points and capacity shortfalls. After comparing approaches, they proposed ways to build a more adaptable sustainment posture capable of shifting from peacetime to wartime output.
“We’re laying the groundwork to unleash the power of American industry in order to both deter our adversaries from future conflict, but to also be ready should the day come that we need to defend our nation in a protracted fight,” Sanford said.
Organizers said takeaways from the wargame will guide efforts to pinpoint critical production needs, weaknesses in supply chains, regulatory obstacles, and procurement policies that slow response times.
Sanford also highlighted the tight link between combat power and logistics, arguing that distributing production closer to deployed forces will help keep weapon systems mission-ready.
