The remedy is simple: build factories that go from raw materials to completed products under one roof, with every production process and QA in one place. This shortens lead times from years to weeks—and sometimes to days, hours, or even minutes.

This is why everything we're building at Boom is designed for speed—speed of manufacturing, speed of iteration.

We are building a state of the art factory where engineering and manufacturing are in one building—where we can go from idea to part in <24 hours.

We need missile defense startups taking a similar approach. It should be possible to speed run a new design anti-ballistic missile in the time it takes Lockheed to make a single unit.

While Boom is focused on turbines and jets, we'd gladly lend support and advice to any credible startup working to do this. The free world depends on fixing America's defense base.

LFG

Worse, many of the supply contracts are based on cost-plus contracting, where suppliers make a fixed percentage profit on dollars spent. In this model, the only way to increase profits is to drive up costs. Inefficiency and incompetence pays.

This is great for turbines and jet engines—and it's also what we desperately need in the defense manufacturing base.

When it takes months or years to do something, it's not possible to iterate. Designs must be one-shotted, meaning analysis paralysis because the cost of rework is so high.

When lead times are short, iteration becomes possible. Speed begets speed, and speed begets improvement.