About this book:

*Supply Lines Under Fire* serves as a comprehensive manual for securing defense manufacturing and logistics in an era where global supply chains are primary targets of economic coercion, cyber warfare, and geopolitical instability. The book argues that modern military readiness depends less on front-line strength and more on the resilience of the complex sub-tier networks that produce critical components. It establishes a rigorous framework for success based on three pillars: visibility to map deep-seated dependencies, diversification to eliminate single points of failure through nearshoring and multi-sourcing, and hardening through physical and digital safeguards.

The text provides pragmatic tools for quantifying risk using metrics such as "Time-to-Recover" and "Time-to-Survive," moving defense procurement away from a narrow focus on cost-efficiency toward a model of assured access. It details how technological levers—specifically additive manufacturing, digital twins, and AI—can fundamentally alter production flexibility, allowing factories to reconfigure rapidly during crises. Furthermore, the book emphasizes that resilience is a cross-disciplinary effort, requiring "contracts as controls" to mandate data sharing, strategic financial hedging to stabilize working capital, and robust workforce development to prevent the loss of specialized institutional knowledge.

Operationally, the book outlines the necessity of "Crisis Response Playbooks" and immersive wargaming to build organizational muscle memory. It advocates for a shift in inventory philosophy, treating strategic reserves not as a financial burden but as a "weapon" that buys time during disruptions. By examining case studies ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to maritime blockades, the author illustrates that the most resilient systems are those that embrace modularity, interoperability, and international collaboration with trusted allies to create a "shared security posture."

The concluding chapters provide a roadmap for continuous improvement, utilizing maturity models to transition organizations from reactive firefighting to proactive, predictive management. By integrating rigorous quality assurance with real-time dashboards and multi-tier audits, defense leaders can institutionalize resilience. Ultimately, the book asserts that in a contested global landscape, the ability to maintain functional supply lines under sustained pressure is the decisive advantage and the backbone of credible national deterrence.

What You'll Find Inside:

• Understand the full spectrum of threats to defense supply chains, from economic sanctions and cyberattacks to physical sabotage and natural disasters.
• Learn how to map multi-tier dependencies and identify single points of failure to uncover hidden vulnerabilities.
• Discover diversification tactics like multi-sourcing and nearshoring, and manufacturing resilience techniques such as modularity and reconfigurable lines.
• Master risk quantification tools (Time-to-Recover, Time-to-Survive, Expected Shortage Days) and technology levers like AI, digital twins, and additive manufacturing.
• Gain practical playbooks for crisis response, scenario planning, and building resilient partnerships across government, industry, and allies.

Who's It For:

The book is intended for procurement officers, supply chain managers, program executives, and policy makers within the defense sector who are responsible for ensuring the continuity of defense manufacturing and logistics. It also benefits defense contractors, logistics planners, and risk management professionals seeking actionable frameworks to harden supply chains against kinetic, cyber, economic, and environmental disruptions. Readers will find tools and strategies directly applicable to securing, diversifying, and hardening defense supply chains in an era of contested logistics.