Industry Struggles

The big challenge with another swing back to manpower from modernization is the effect on industry, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said Friday. Speaking to reporters at AWS17, Goldfein said he’s “very worried” about industry and its “ability to sustain a sophisticated workforce,” which he said the service needs to be able to produce the “increasingly sophisticated” capabilities that will be needed in the event of a “high-end conflict.” He added, “these are not workers that you can go out and hire quickly, these are engineers” and other specialized aerospace workers. “I really need you to keep the capacity,” he said of industry, adding contractors have “got to figure out how to keep that sophisticated workforce on the books,” until the pendulum swings back.