Supply Chain Study Hits the Ground Running.

• Author: Wostenberg, Rebecca
• Position: Emerging Technology Horizons

* In the December column for the magazine, ETI announced the launch of its most ambitious research effort to date--the "Emerging Technologies Supply Chain Research Study."

This project will not only analyze the current state of defense emerging technology supply chains, but also provide policy recommendations for their development, health and resilience. While this type of analysis will need to be conducted across all critical technologies, the study will begin by focusing on four: hypersonics, directed energy, biotechnology and biologically derived manufacturing, and quantum sensing.

With supply chain disruptions continuing to dominate the headlines, it is more important than ever to take the lessons learned today and apply them to the supply chains of tomorrow.

When it comes to emerging technologies, the hard questions need to be asked: What supply chains must be built today to support the warfighters of tomorrow? In a globalized economy, is the United States dangerously reliant on competitors for key components? Where can the nation work with partners and allies to establish alternative supply chains that remove such dependencies? How can the government create an environment that allows the defense industry to thrive and meet the needs of the military? Where can academia play a stronger role in issues like workforce and testing?

These are exactly the issues that the ETI supply chain study is tackling. Over the past few months, the ETI team has been hard at work and three updates on the study are worth noting.

First, the institute is proud to announce a partnership with the University of Maryland to support the effort. Through this partnership a research team of faculty and graduate students are supporting ETI by mapping the four supply chains.

This is a massive undertaking but already is bearing fruit. The team began their efforts on hypersonics and are conducting vital research including breaking down the technology into its key components, identifying critical suppliers at all levels of the supply chain, evaluating primary manufacturing locations and analyzing them for vulnerabilities.

In the words of Suresh Acharya, professor of practice, and the academic director for business analytics programs at the University of Maryland: "Over the last few years, supply chains have gone from a niche issue area to the forefront of every conversation regarding the global economy. By bringing together UMD's broad research expertise in supply chain...