America’s Military Rebuild Starts With a Manufacturing Problem
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Building a laptop from start to finish in America is a tall order. Just ask Palmer Luckey, whose company Anduril is hoping to make "BlueChip" laptops entirely in the U.S.
BlueChip represents a new line of computers being developed with Qualcomm (QCOM). The first model, planned for 2027, is a rugged military laptop with a carrying handle resembling a rifle strap.
When The Verge asked Luckey how much of the laptop would be American-made at launch, Luckey began working through the obstacles.
There's the chip factories, memory production, display manufacturing, and components, much of which will not be made in the U.S. at launch but instead come from close allies.
It's one thing to build a computer. It's another thing entirely to rebuild the supply chain around it.
Anduril believes its launch model's U.S.-origin components will represent roughly 65% of the prototype’s component procurement cost.
Its engineers are designing the enclosure for American machining, adapting battery and power-management systems to available U.S. technology, and developing a process to incorporate American-made display glass. Circuit board assembly is planned for its Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio.
A fully domestic supply chain is still a long ways off, though. But we can catch a glimpse into what rebuilding the manufacturing looks like, with engineers solving problems one component, process, and supplier at a time.
For investors, I think that’s the important part of this story.
America’s effort to strengthen its defenses will require years of spending on the physical capacity to produce what the military needs.
Yet, one company is already operating at the center of that effort…
The First Opportunity Is Already Here
You can't defend an airfield with only an interceptor…
You need to be able to detect the incoming threat, track its movement, and coordinate a response. The missile is one part of a larger system that has to function under pressure.
This is where RTX (RTX) comes in.
RTX’s Raytheon business supplies Patriot systems and GEM-T interceptors, along with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS.
In plain English, LTAMDS is a radar designed to help air defenses detect and track advanced threats.
Its opportunity extends across the equipment needed to make air defense work, including radars, interceptors, and the systems connecting detection to a response.
That creates several potential sources of business as customers expand their defenses.
An existing customer may need more missiles. Another may need additional systems to protect more locations. Others may need upgraded sensors, maintenance, or support.
The initial sale can open the door to years of additional work.
We can already see RTX investing to meet that demand.
In June, the company announced a $100 million expansion at its Portsmouth, Rhode Island, facility to increase LTAMDS testing capacity and production of Patriot GEM-T subcomponents.
That followed a separate $53 million expansion of its radar production facility in Andover, Massachusetts.
Notice what those investments address.
Testing capacity. Radar manufacturing. Missile components.
These are the practical steps that allow a defense company to deliver more finished equipment.
They also bring us back to BlueChip.
A laptop manufacturer needs dependable access to batteries, displays, and processors. An air-defense manufacturer needs dependable access to specialized electronics, missile components, and testing facilities.
In both cases, the finished product depends on the development and manufacturing keeping pace.
For shareholders, expanding that capacity creates an opportunity — provided the company can complete the work on time and earn attractive returns on the investment.
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The Orders Are Substantial
RTX’s latest results show the scale of the demand.
Third-quarter 2026 sales reached approximately $25 billion, up 11% from a year earlier. Its backlog totaled $340 billion, including $164 billion in defense orders and $176 billion in commercial orders.
Management also raised its full-year free-cash-flow outlook to $9 billion to $9.2 billion.
That backlog provides substantial work to execute. The higher cash-flow outlook is encouraging because fulfilling orders requires investment before shareholders see the full benefit.
Still, backlog is future work. Its value depends on delivery schedules, contract economics, and execution.
I want to see rising production translate into cash after RTX pays for the people, equipment, and facilities needed to support it.
There is another distinction investors should understand: RTX is a diversified aerospace and defense company.
Alongside Raytheon, it owns Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney. Commercial aviation therefore plays a major role in its results.
That can provide another source of growth and cash generation. But keep in mind, it also means engine problems, customer compensation, or other operational setbacks can offset progress in defense.
Where the Opportunity Leads
A working prototype is a start, but producing thousands of dependable machines requires an entire industrial network behind it.
That’s the lesson of Anduril’s laptop ambitions — and a central part of my thesis on America’s rearmament.
When the military needs more interceptors, it needs suppliers with trained workers, specialized machinery, qualified components, and equipment its personnel already know how to use.
Established manufacturers like RTX have that foundation. As orders grow, their challenge is to expand production and turn that demand into cash.
But restocking the arsenal is only the first phase of the opportunity I’m following.
The second involves drones, AI, and autonomous systems that could change how militaries operate… and what it costs to defend against an attack.
The third reaches deeper into the industrial base: securing the materials and manufacturing capabilities needed to produce those technologies at scale.
Each phase creates a different investment opportunity. RTX gives us exposure to one important part of that larger picture.
In my Rearming America presentation, I walk through all three phases and explain how they guide my search for the companies positioned to benefit. I also examine two related opportunities: rebuilding American naval power and supplying the intelligence behind increasingly autonomous military systems.
If today’s look at RTX has you wondering where else this spending could flow, that’s your next step.
Watch my Rearming America presentation to see the three investment opportunities I’m tracking — and the companies behind them.
Sincerely,
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