Connecting the Factory to the Fight: AI-Enabled Software and Proactive Defense Supply Chains

About this episode

This episode discusses the transformation of defense supply chains through AI-enabled software with Dr. Jen Gebhardt.

The Department of War manages trillions of dollars in capabilities through an acquisition system that has not kept pace with the technologies it is meant to deliver. As readiness rates decline and supply chains grow more contested, modernizing how the defense enterprise uses data has become a national security imperative, and AI-enabled software is at the center of that effort. In this episode, host Dr. Arun Seraphin sits down with Dr. Jen Gebhardt, Director of Research at Govini, to discuss how AI and advanced data analysis are transforming defense acquisition, sustainment, and contested logistics. Drawing on Govini's work with Project Convergence and Air Force sustainment programs, Gebhardt explains how the shift from a reactive to a proactive supply chain can compress resupply planning into under an hour and connect the factory to the fight in near real time. The conversation also covers sub-tier supply chain visibility and the "illusion of diversity" in critical industrial bases like solid rocket motors, the role of AI in identifying financial fragility and foreign ownership risks, and how government access to technical data correlates directly with readiness…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Arun Seraphin

Guest: Dr. Jen Gebhardt

Topics covered

• AI in defense
• supply chain management
• data analysis
• defense acquisition
• logistics
• national security

Keywords

• AI
• defense logistics
• supply chain visibility
• data analysis
• national security
• acquisition system
• resupply planning

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Govini, Department of War, Air Force, Project Convergence

Books & works: Sustaining the Fight

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