Op-Ed: Brig. Gen. Ronald J. Johnson: Strengthening America's arsenal is an immediate national security imperative
Peace through strength requires more than rhetoric; it requires relentless production, strategic partnerships, and the political will to build an immutable supply chain, per Brig. Gen. Ronald Johnson.
As a former Marine Corps brigadier general who has led Marines into harm’s way, I have seen firsthand that decisive leadership and a clear strategic focus make the difference between victory and costly failure. President Donald Trump’s commitment to “peace through strength” has refocused our armed forces on what matters most: lethality, readiness, and the industrial backbone that sustains combat operations. Those reforms, cutting wasteful programs, prioritizing combat capability, and restoring morale, have produced measurable improvements in recruitment and readiness after a period of decline.
Strength deters chaos. The reforms we have implemented are restoring the fighting spirit and operational edge of the U.S. military. At the same time, strategic threats are evolving. America now faces a long-term peer competitor in the Chinese Communist Party whose industrial capacity and munitions output dwarf our current production. This is not a distant hypothetical, it is a material vulnerability that demands urgent policy and industrial response.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have correctly called attention to a grave shortfall in our munitions stockpiles. Continued support to partners such as Ukraine, while morally and strategically justified, has further strained prepositioned reserves and exposed gaps in our surge capacity. Pentagon war games repeatedly show that in a high-end fight — for example, defending Taiwan — we could exhaust precision munitions in a matter of days. That is an unacceptable risk.
The solution is straightforward and urgent: rebuild America’s munitions industrial base at scale, and do so in concert with trusted allies. We must expand domestic capacity and create resilient, allied production networks that guarantee surge manufacturing and diversified supply chains. Joint production with partners spreads risk, builds interoperability, and enhances strategic deterrence.
One practical option is to leverage allied industrial talent and capacity in strategically located partner nations. Joint ventures and U.S.-backed manufacturing facilities in Bosnia and other friendly regions would increase output quickly, stabilize supply for NATO and other theaters, and strengthen regional economies, a force-multiplier akin to the allied industrial mobilization of the Second World War. At the same time, we must invest in state-side hubs in states poised to support defense manufacturing, ensuring redundant, secure production lines on American soil.
Industry, government, and our military must coordinate a national mobilization to restore wartime production rhythms. At Mares Defense, we work with partners across Europe and the Middle East to build exactly these kinds of resilient supply chains. But public policy must match private-sector initiative: prioritize munitions procurement, accelerate contracting reforms to eliminate unnecessary delays, incentivize production through targeted investment, and protect critical lines of supply.
President Trump’s vision to rebuild the arsenal, revitalize the industrial base, and arm our forces to deter and, if necessary, prevail is not partisan; it is pragmatic and essential. We must fund this vision now. Our Marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, and guardians deserve the industrial backbone that enables decisive victory when called upon.
Peace through strength requires more than rhetoric; it requires relentless production, strategic partnerships, and the political will to build an immutable supply chain. We must act decisively to ensure America’s military is equipped to win.
Ronald J. Johnson served as a brigadier general in the United States Marine Corps.