Promotion and Protection Strategies

The Promotion and Protection Strategies program, managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, is a research and development initiative focused on strengthening the defense industrial base for biotechnology. The program's primary objective is to provide visibility, foster partnerships, and incentivize industry transition partners, thereby supporting a developmental network that acts as a nucleus for biotechnology within the Department of Defense (DoD). By centralizing transition planning efforts, particularly for distributed bioindustrial manufacturing, the program aims to streamline the integration of innovative biomanufactured products specifically non-pharmaceutical materials and chemicals into DoD systems and platforms.

A key goal of the Promotion and Protection Strategies line item is to coordinate among Acquisition, Policy, and Research and Engineering communities, including Tri-Service Biotechnology for a Resilient Supply Chain (T-BRSC). This coordination is intended to align investment, research, and acquisition strategies, ensuring that new biomanufactured technologies are efficiently transitioned from development to operational use. The program represents the DoD's first coordinated effort to centralize biotechnology acquisition, promoting both the push of technologies from lower to higher budget activities and the pull from higher to lower ones. This approach accelerates the adoption of emerging capabilities.

The program's activities are specifically designed to address DoD priorities by supplying critical chemicals and materials necessary for the production of munitions, hypersonics, and unmanned aerial systems (UASs). Additionally, it supports point-of-need biomanufacturing, particularly in strategically significant theaters such as INDOPACOM. By focusing on these areas, the program seeks to enhance military readiness, revive the defense industrial base, and provide capabilities that are closely matched to evolving threats and logistical challenges.

Within the line item, the Biotechnology Acquisition and Investment Coordination Effort (BAICE) is a central project. BAICE's objectives include testing and identifying pathways to increase domestic availability of critical materials like cellulose, collaborating with agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and assessing vulnerabilities in biomanufacturing that could impact supply chains in contested or austere environments. The project also sustains subject matter experts who help shape and manage significant DoD investments in modernizing non-pharmaceutical biotechnology infrastructure, products, and services.

In fiscal years 2025 and 2026, BAICE plans to propose solutions to barriers preventing wider adoption of bioproducts, such as sustainable aviation fuels and feedstocks, within the DoD. The program will also map domestic and foreign biomanufacturing ecosystems to support the identification and tracking of key metrics. These metrics are essential for refining the DoD Biomanufacturing Strategy and ensuring that future investments are data-driven and responsive to changes in the global landscape.

Looking ahead, the program will continue to engage with other federal departments and agencies to foster collaborative solutions, match biotechnology capabilities to emerging threats, and leverage existing acquisition processes for rapid fielding of new technologies. Ongoing assessments of vulnerabilities in the biomanufacturing supply chain will inform investment strategies. Continued engagement with the defense industrial base, academia, and government stakeholders will help ensure that investments are aligned with operational needs.