Technology Supply Chain Security for Space and Defense

GMF and Swedish aerospace company ECAPS are partnering to hosting a closed-door roundtable in Washington, DC to discuss strengthening secure and resilient technology supply chains for space and defense.

Sustained geopolitical competition, accelerating defense innovation cycles, and renewed attention to industrial resilience are increasing the strategic importance of secure access to enabling technologies. Advanced capabilities in space, at high altitudes, and under water depend on critical inputs such asspecialty fuels, batteries and semiconductors. Yet the supply and value chains supporting these technologies remain exposed to geopolitical disruption, concentrated dependencies, and suppliers in adversarial states. 

This discussion will provide an opportunity for candid exchanges on pressing policy questions such as:

• What are the US and European positions on supply chain security for technologies that support space domain defense capabilities, such as batteries, fuels, and specialty semiconductors for satellites?
• How can the United States and Europe identify and reduce strategic technological dependencies in space and defense supply chains without undermining innovation, interoperability, or operational readiness?
• What forms of cooperation between government and private industry are needed to address these dependencies effectively and at scale?
• As Europe pursues defense modernization and its own sovereign military capabilities, how should it and the United States decide which systems should be built together and which Europe should build for itself?

The event will begin with introductory remarks and a panel discussion featuring ECAPS CEO Odysseas Christofi and additional experts and stakeholders. GMF China Technology Analyst Dylan Welch will moderate the conversation. An off-the-record exchange with all participants under the Chatham House rule will follow the panel discussion. The event will conclude with an informal networking lunch.

For further information and next steps, please contact:

• Dylan Welch ([email protected]), China Technology Analyst, GMF Technology Program
• Astrid Ziebarth ([email protected]), Deputy Managing Director and Senior Fellow, GMF Technology Program