Before we can start converting the U.S. war industry, we must be familiar with the corporations that currently profit from war.

We Ready

A few large U.S. corporations (HII, V2X, Sierra Nevada Corp., Lockheed Martin) are highly reliant upon military contracting,1 but that’s not an obstacle. All four are actually ready for industrial conversion.

HII’s specialty is shipbuilding & maintenance, which is immediately applicable to the civilian world: shipbuilding (e.g., hospital ships, barges, tugboats, cargo ships, fishing vessels, dredgers), as well as coastal fortification, public infrastructure, and disaster relief.2

V2X specializes in base operations, information technology (IT), aircraft (maintenance, training, and operation), logistics, and land vehicle maintenance.3 Such goods and services align well with civilian need:

• Base operations (custodial services, trash disposal, landscaping, building maintenance, pest control, road maintenance, snowplowing) fits with city planning and administration, public works, and housing upgrades.

• IT underpins our daily lives. It is used in everything from online meetings and mobile communications to emergency services, banking, and public transit.

• Search and rescue, airborne firefighting, hurricane hunting, medevac, and commercial aviation all require maintenance, training, and operation.

• Logistics is used in agriculture, food distribution, disaster relief, supply chain management, and several large industries, such as energy, shipping, and online retail.

• Land vehicle maintenance is perfect for keeping public transportation (e.g., busses, trolleys, trams) and emergency vehicles up and running.

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) sells avionics; the training of pilots and aircraft maintainers; aircraft maintenance, sustainment, and modification; and hardware and software for communications and battlefield awareness.4 None of those endeavors are inherently militant.

• Avionics, aircraft (training, maintenance, modification), and technology for communications & awareness can benefit such important fields as humanitarian aid, search and rescue, firefighting, food distribution, and public transportation.

• SNC hardware and software—including sensors for reconnaissance and espionage—are welcomed in climate and environmental monitoring, disaster preparation and relief, international scientific cooperation, agriculture and crop monitoring, and global communications.

Lockheed Martin is the largest corporation in the business. All of its production facilities are well-positioned for industrial conversion, as this map indicates:

Good News

As we see, just because a business is highly reliant upon military contracting doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause.

Indeed, all existing military technology—including but not limited to satellites, rockets, telemetry, avionics, aircraft, IT, propulsion, cameras and imaging systems, ships, land vehicles, logistics programs, and communications equipment—has a civilian parallel or an immediate, obtainable conversion objective.

But what about munitions (bombs, missiles, and artillery)? How could the public benefit from that? No problem. The processes (e.g., metallurgy, metalworking) and parts (e.g., circuitry, telemetry, antenna, cables, nuts, bolts) used in making munitions are very useful in manufacturing peaceful, civilian products!5

Already Doing It

Most U.S. corporations in the business of war already produce civilian goods and services (in addition to war technology)!

An example from each of the top 10:

• Lockheed Martin - weather satellites

• RTX - life support systems for civilian spacecraft

• Northrop Grumman - laser crystals for medical devices

• General Dynamics - IT platforms for student financial aid

• Boeing - airplanes for commercial air travel

• L3Harris - communications networks for public transit

• Leidos - software for a public health agency

• HII - environmental clean-up

• Amentum - staffing for intergovernmental organizations involved in election observation

• Booz Allen Hamilton - IT security for energy infrastructure

Federal spending on non-military areas such as infrastructure and sustainable energy creates more jobs than military spending, so moving tax dollars away from the War Department and into beneficial departments (Interior, Housing & Urban Development, Agriculture) can increase employment while decreasing pollution, destruction, and death.

Free the Workers

War corporations are packed with brilliant and industrious workers, such as engineers, physicists, computer programmers, chemists, mechanics, metallurgists, machinists, and electricians.

They could work in — and develop technology for — public infrastructure, international scientific cooperation, transportation, energy generation and storage, postal logistics and delivery, telecommunications, translation and interpretation, rural broadband, environmental remediation, first response and emergency services, agriculture, and more.

A united working class can generate the political will to take on big business interests and initiate industrial conversion—war to peace.

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Christian Sorensen is a researcher focused on the U.S.-based corporations profiting from war. He is associate director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), a group of independent military and intel veterans and national security experts who disagree with U.S. foreign policy and know a better world is possible.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Industrial conversion involves changing the output of existing factories. The aforementioned businesses could make stuff that actually helps the public instead of making stuff for war.

Military Land Vehicles

Some corporations make military land vehicles. The factories that currently make military land vehicles could start making:

• public transportation (e.g., trams, trolleys, school busses, high-speed rail cars)

• emergency response vehicles (e.g., ambulances, fire trucks)

• agriculture equipment (e.g., harvesters, tillers, planters)

Such vehicles help the public.

Other production possibilities include but are not limited to material and parts for public infrastructure; construction equipment; housing upgrades; and energy generation and storage.

Mapping the Production of Military Land Vehicles

Click on the map to explore the conversion of factories that make military land vehicles.

Good news! Industrial conversion is entirely possible.

1. Every day, corporations open, close, and renovate factories, and change what they produce. They’re already engaged in economic conversion, albeit within the militant status quo.

2. Some military land vehicles have a peaceful use. The DRS Joint Assault Bridge, for example, could help search and rescue teams reach stranded people instead of helping tanks reach war zones. The Mack Heavy Dump Truck could transport supplies to build public infrastructure instead of transporting weaponry.

3. Many corporations that make military land vehicles already make beneficial, peaceful products. For example, Oshkosh Defense, maker of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the Pentagon and its allies, is also making an electric vehicle for the post office.

When the public sheds the profit-over-people economic system, the facilities on the above map can increase their current civilian production and convert their military production to beneficial endeavors.

Bonus

Federal spending on non-military fields such as infrastructure, education, and sustainable energy creates more jobs than military spending.

It’s worth repeating: The brilliant and industrious workers (e.g., engineer, physicist, computer programmer, machinist, electrician) currently tied up in the war industry could instead improve public infrastructure, international scientific cooperation, transportation, disaster relief, energy generation & storage, food production, housing, and so much more.

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Christian Sorensen is a researcher focused on the U.S.-based corporations profiting from war. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Sorensen is associate director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), a group of military and national security veterans who disagree with U.S. foreign policy and believe a better world is possible.

The following map shows the corporations doing the military’s latest research and what those workers could be researching once the public sheds the business of war.

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Methodology

I scoured fiscal 2024 U.S. military contracting announcements in order to find all announcements pertaining to RDT&E.

My study focused on contracts issued by a military research lab (e.g., the Air Force Research Lab) or to a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). I included other contracts in the study if 90-100% of the obligated funds were RDT&E funds.

The focus was on actual research and development of new technology. Therefore, I excluded following:

• administration, planning, management, program security, or bureaucratic support of research and development;

• information technology (IT) support or computing for a military research lab;

• general, unspecified, and/or vague research and development;

• and facility construction, installation, or repair.

Also excluded were contracts paid for in part or in whole with RDT&E funds, but which had little or nothing to do with actual research and development.

I use the term “contract” in this study to include contracts, contract modifications, and contract options.

Christian Sorensen is a researcher focused on the corporations profiting from war. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Sorensen is a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), a group of veterans who believe a better world is possible.

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Where are these corporations located? What do they produce?

This map summarizes what each facility currently works on and suggests peaceful, beneficial fields toward which production could immediately pivot.

Industrial Conversion

Industrial conversion involves changing the output of existing factories.

• A federal job guarantee can protect workers during conversion. Workers know their facilities best, so they—not corporate executives—should be in charge of conversion.

• Numerous fields stand to benefit from these workers (e.g., engineer, physicist, computer programmer, machinist, electrician) who are currently in military industry. Fields include but are not limited to public infrastructure, international scientific cooperation, transportation, disaster relief, and energy generation and storage.

• As seen in the map, many facilities already produce goods and services—including satellites, rockets, telemetry, avionics, aircraft, information technology, propulsion, cameras and imaging systems, ships, land vehicles, logistics programs, and communications equipment—that could be used for peaceful civilian purposes.

Federal spending on non-military fields such as infrastructure and sustainable energy creates more jobs than military spending. Other benefits come from industrial conversion:

• Less death. Less destruction. Less pollution (e.g., A, B, C).

• Political space to bring the troops home and take care of them.

• Money, once tied up in a bloated military budget, freed for public need, such as housing, education, and water infrastructure.

A united working class can generate the political will to take on big business interests and initiate economic conversion—war to peace.

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Update 16 March 2024: Google disabled the map on Thursday, 14 March 2024. Google alleged potential violation of its Dangerous & Illegal Activities policy. I appealed. There is nothing dangerous or illegal about taking public, official information (from military contracting announcements, USAspending.gov, corporate press releases, and corporate job postings) and transferring it to a map. Update 5 April 2024: Google stopped censoring the map.

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Christian Sorensen is a researcher focused on the U.S.-based corporations profiting from war. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he is associate director of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), a group of military and intel veterans who disagree with U.S. foreign policy and believe a better world is possible.