Bending the Defense Cost Curve

The Horn of Africa is one of the world’s most sensitive and strategic regions. It overlooks vital shipping lanes that connect Asia and Europe, shares a maritime border with the Middle East, and has thousands of miles of Indian Ocean coastline. The region is also home to Africa’s second most populous country, Ethiopia; one of the continent’s most important ports, Djibouti; and Chinese, American, and other military bases. But the Horn’s deep political tensions and history of conflict make it difficult to engage in effective diplomacy. Hudson Institute, in collaboration with the Israel-Africa Institute, is conducting a series of webinars analyzing this important region, especially the role that outside actors play.In this episode, experts discuss what regional powers such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye, and Qatar are doing in the Horn, their strategies and motivations, and the impact they might have on the region.

Join Hudson’s Mario Mancuso, William Chou, and Thomas Duesterberg for a discussion about the Trump administration’s recently announced America First Investment Policy. The event will explore the new policy through the lens of strategic competition between the United States and China, US alliance politics, and broader political economy considerations.

The Horn of Africa is one of the world’s most sensitive and strategic regions. It overlooks vital shipping lanes that connect Asia and Europe, shares a maritime border with the Middle East, and has thousands of miles of Indian Ocean coastline. The region is also home to Africa’s second most populous country, Ethiopia; one of the continent’s most important ports, Djibouti; and Chinese, American, and other military bases. But the Horn’s deep political tensions and history of conflict make it difficult to engage in effective diplomacy. Hudson Institute, in collaboration with the Israel-Africa Institute, is conducting a series of webinars analyzing this important region, especially the role that outside actors play.In this episode, experts discuss what large powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are doing in the Horn, their strategies and motivations, and the impact they might have on the region.

Drones’ prominent role in the Russia-Ukraine War and air strikes across the Middle East have demonstrated that the future of warfare will be automated. Despite being the first to field robotic systems, the United States military has been slow to embrace autonomous capabilities at scale or take operators out of the decision-making loop. The Department of Defense’s hesitance is due, in part, to legitimate concerns about the reliability of automated capabilities. But adversaries like China or Russia may not share these concerns and are likely to deploy fully autonomous systems in future confrontations.Senior Fellow Bryan Clark will sit down for a fireside chat with AeroVironment Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Wahid Nawabi about how the US military can realize these opportunities in autonomous systems. Then a panel of experts from the DoD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) and the defense industry will discuss the way forward for autonomy in US command and control systems, weapons, and vehicles as well as the role of data in achieving these goals.

The next four years will be critical for American industrial policy as Washington seeks to strengthen its position in global semiconductor fabrication. Building on the Trump administration’s efforts to reshore semiconductor design and manufacturing, policymakers and industry professionals will need to collaborate on a comprehensive plan to foster a robust semiconductor ecosystem in the United States.Senior Fellow Jason Hsu will moderate a discussion with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Senior Vice President Peter Cleveland, ASML Head of US Government Affairs Jonathan Hoganson, Tokyo Electron Director of Government Affairs Paul Treadgold, and MediaTek Vice President of Government Relations Patrick Wilson. They will examine potential policy changes, structural challenges, and opportunities for the United States to leverage its partnerships and build a more sustainable domestic semiconductor ecosystem.

The integration of uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) with Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines is transforming undersea warfare. This breakthrough enhances autonomous launch and recovery, extends stealth and survivability, and strengthens electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations in even the most complex undersea environments.Join Hudson Institute’s Bryan Clark for a panel discussion on how crewed-uncrewed teaming and advanced electronic warfare integration are redefining undersea dominance. The conversation will explore the next generation of autonomous maritime defense, where stealth, surveillance, and strike capabilities promise to reach new heights.

The United States Department of Defense is unlikely to get the sustained funding required to achieve its desired scale and capabilities. Therefore, maintaining costs will be a central challenge for the department. Norm Augustine warned several decades ago about the punishing increases in platform costs, and operating costs have continued to climb. What capital and operational strategies should the department consider? To what extent should the DoD be concerned about deferred costs like veterans’ benefits? And how might the Pentagon address political and cultural obstacles to change?

The Indo-Pacific appears to be a key area of focus for the Trump administration. Members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—which is known as the Quad and includes the United States, Australia, Japan, and India—have received particular attention. The Japanese and Indian prime ministers were among the first foreign leaders to meet with President Donald Trump. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first major diplomatic engagement was a foreign ministers’ summit with his Japanese, Indian, and Australian counterparts. But much like Washington’s longtime allies in Europe, American partners in the Indo-Pacific are concerned about the future of the US-led alliance network.Join Hudson for a conversation with Representative Ami Bera, MD (D-CA) on how bipartisan foreign policy cooperation can reinforce America’s longstanding commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Ukrainian Member of Parliament Oleksii Goncharenko joins Hudson’s Luke Coffey for a conversation on the current state of United States–Ukraine relations, ongoing peace negotiations, and why Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty matters to both the US and Europe. Goncharenko will discuss the war, the many risks and opportunities of peace talks with Russia, and how continued Western support is vital to ensuring a just and lasting peace in Europe’s most consequential conflict since World War II.

As democracies with open media ecosystems, the United States and Japan face the constant challenge of information uncertainty. Bad actors, including those associated with nation-states, constantly seek to undermine the two nations’ civil societies by spreading disinformation on social media, as well as traditional media and other outlets.Join Hudson for an expert discussion on how the US and Japan approach the threat of information uncertainty and foreign influence.