Defense procurement is morphing into an investment function: DoD is writing checks, loans, and offtake contracts with price floors to push civilian strategic industries across the 'valley of death.' This treats the defense buyer as an anchor investor for domestic reindustrialization, not just a purchaser of finished goods.
— If procurement agencies act like development banks, governance, accountability, and market‑design choices at DoD will shape the civilian industrial base.
Noah Smith
2025.09.23
70% relevant
The article argues nations should target batteries, motors, power electronics, and related components because drones now dominate warfare; this implicitly endorses defense procurement as an anchor to scale the same industries that power civilian manufacturing—directly echoing the 'defense buyer as development bank' concept.
BeauHD
2025.09.17
68% relevant
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation urges the U.S. government not to scale back purchases of commercial satcom and remote sensing and to ensure a seamless ISS‑to‑commercial LEO transition—using federal buying power to sustain and grow strategic space industries, exactly the 'anchor investor' role described in this idea.
Julius Krein
2025.09.08
78% relevant
By stressing the 'Valley of Death' and endorsing portfolio and 'commercial‑first' acquisition that lowers barriers for nontraditional vendors, the piece pushes DoD toward acting like an anchor investor/offtaker to move technologies from prototype to production.
Julius Krein
2025.08.20
100% relevant
DoD’s $400M direct investment, price‑floor offtake, and $150M loan to MP Materials for rare‑earths processing.
Dominic Cummings
2025.03.06
70% relevant
The piece urges applying WWII mobilization lessons—massive government orders, business‑led execution, rapid tooling—to contemporary civilian and military production, echoing the idea that defense procurement can act like investment to push strategic industries across the 'valley of death.'