Critical Defense Screws Face Years-Long Supply Delays
Ball screws essential for missiles and aircraft are in short supply, with procurement sometimes taking years due to a thin US manufacturer base.
A specialized fastener known as a ball screw — a precision component used in missiles, aircraft and other defense systems — has become a chokepoint in American military readiness, with procurement timelines stretching into years rather than weeks or months.
Only a handful of domestic manufacturers retain the capability to produce these components to military specifications. Saginaw Precision, a Michigan-based firm, is among the rare American companies engineering ball screw prototypes for the armed forces, underscoring how concentrated and fragile this segment of the defense industrial base has become.
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The scarcity reflects a broader structural problem: decades of offshoring and consolidation in precision manufacturing have left the Pentagon dependent on an extremely narrow supplier network for parts that are not exotic in concept but are extraordinarily difficult to fabricate to exacting tolerances. When a single supplier faces capacity constraints or production delays, the ripple effects can stall entire weapons programs.
Defense procurement officials and industry analysts have long warned that critical sub-components — not just major platforms like ships or aircraft — represent hidden vulnerabilities in the supply chain. Ball screws, which convert rotational motion into linear motion with minimal friction, are embedded throughout guidance systems and flight-control mechanisms, making their reliable availability a national security matter.
The situation illustrates how reindustrialization efforts focused on headline industries may overlook granular but mission-critical components that underpin modern weapons systems. Continue reading at NYT > Business.
