Brian Schimpf, CEO of defense tech giant Anduril, has a sobering message: the way wars are fought has fundamentally changed, and the U.S. isn't ready for it.
Speaking at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference on Monday, Schimpf pointed out that in the first month of a recent conflict, the U.S. and Israel carried out ten times more strikes than in the entire Gulf War. That pace, he suggested, is the "new normal."
But the real shift isn't just about more bombs. Schimpf argued that modern conflicts are increasingly about crippling economies, not just destroying military assets. "The economic warfare that is effectively the Strait of Hormuz, this is the new normal of what these conflicts are going to look like," he said.
That presents a "particularly tricky problem" for the U.S., because it's "essentially impossible" to impose high economic costs on a country like China without also damaging the American economy. China has systematically secured control of critical minerals and key suppliers, creating leverage that the U.S. has been slow to address.
Schimpf highlighted the fragility of the supply chain with a stark example: in a four-week conflict with Iran, the U.S. used about 850 Tomahawk missiles, depleting a stockpile that was being replenished at only about 90% of the rate it was consumed. His solution? Redesign weapons for easier manufacturing and secure the supply of raw materials, including rare earths. "We're looking at how do we secure supply of germanium years out," Schimpf said.
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