Rising tensions over Taiwan serve as a reminder of ongoing supply chain crisis. As the U.S., Japan, and others accelerate efforts to strengthen defense programs, defense manufacturers continue to face supply chain and labor shortages. Bradley Martin, director of the RAND National Security Supply Chain Institute, recently warned these constraints are dangerous for the U.S. and its allies in preparing for China's challenges.
For Guam, a remote U.S. territory that plays a unique strategic role in the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy, the stakes of the supply chain crisis could not be any higher to American national security.
Guam is often referred to as America's "tip of the spear." Situated 1,900 miles from the Korean peninsula and 1,700 miles from Taiwan, it remains among our country's most critical posts for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, fighter aircraft, long range bombers, and attack submarines. No wonder experts have said Guam's defense should be the center of the Biden administration's focus on countering threats from China in the Indo-Pacific. And President Joe Biden wants to spend $892 million to protect Guam from China's missiles.
A key staging area for United States forces since 1898, managing logistics and critical spare part supplies is a complex enterprise. Never mind these supplies support maintenance of the world's most sophisticated products, including ships, aircraft, automobiles, energy generators, and medical devices—both for Defense and civilian users alike. Many of the planes and submarines stationed in Guam are decades old, making it all the more challenging to find reliable sources of spare parts to maximize U.S. force readiness. According to McKinsey & Company, the average aerospace company relies on 200 main suppliers, who in turn rely on parts from over 12,000 smaller vendors. Today, this means when a part breaks down, it can take several months if not years to requisition new repairs—often at distances 10,000 miles away from where these parts are needed.
Given the island's remoteness, supporting and maintaining logistics associated with shipping thousands of parts for the ships, aircraft, and vehicles can prove extremely complex, costing millions in fuel costs and sustainment. Understanding these complexities, we believe that solutions may actually lie on the island of Guam itself—where strategically these components need to be. So it stands to reason that in addition to playing host to 22,000 military personnel and their families, Guam could offer alternative opportunities to support key logistical supply lines.
Guam does not currently have a significant manufacturing industry. But with appropriate investments in science, technology, and engineering, we could see the island printing its own parts, eventually growing its own capabilities to repair and upgrade critical infrastructure needed to keep the region—and America—safe. This investment creates a new generation of engineers, technicians, and designers that will one day build parts on-demand and help address a critical supply chain crisis in the most strategic corner of the world.
The Guam Economic Development Authority (GEDA) recently launched an effort with ASTRO America that would enable the U.S. to meet Guam's growing geo-political significance and alleviate supply chain issues related to critical defense parts—using 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM).
Estimates of the global 3D printing market range between $10-14 billion and continue to grow at a rapid clip. If able to capitalize on a fraction of that growth, Guam's economy, which has been heavily dependent on military and government spending as well as tourism, could greatly benefit from broad diversification.
Guam's government officials and business leaders are actively looking at opportunities to diversify Guam's economy so that it is less impacted by fluctuations of the tourism economy spurred by natural disasters, health crises like COVID-19, and more. That's where the AM blueprint comes in—it would change the island's economic future forever. At the same time, this type of development could help address any number of local issues on the path to economic recovery, ranging from unemployment, which reached an all time high in 2020; to homelessness, which has gotten worse in recent years; and other issues exacerbated by the pandemic crisis.
For the effort to be successful in the long-term, and really make an impact in our broader defense strategy, it will require considerable partnerships with key institutions located over 6,000 miles away on the U.S. mainland. Most of all, it will require the support of the Guamanian people and its great public and private institutions.
The people of Guam have made great contributions to U.S. national security by supporting the nation's military presence and serving in significant numbers of all our Armed Forces. It's time that we help invest in the territory's future—expanding educational opportunities, new STEM-related business, and strong prospects for innovation and growth. Doing so benefits the island, and provides a strong foundation for America's defense in the region for generations to come.
The Honorable Lourdes "Lou" Aflague Leon Guerrero is the ninth governor of Guam.
Neal Orringer is president of the Applied Science & Technology Research Organization (ASTRO) America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advances government-industry collaborations. Their projects accelerate transition of key manufacturing technologies into defense production.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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