WASHINGTON — With 2026 just around the corner, a senior Pentagon official is warning companies in the defense industrial base to start now to get their ducks in a row ahead of a 2027 mandate that their products be free of parts from certain Chinese companies.
“Either knowingly or unknowingly, the firms that are connected to [banned Chinese parts under Section] 1268, we need to illuminate those challenges, those connections. We need to connect with the programs and the firms … to go ahead and remove them,” Michael Cadenazzi, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, told an audience at the Atlantic Council today.
In the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act [PDF], lawmakers included the Section 805 provision essentially blocking the department from inking new deals, or extending old ones, for weapons that include parts obtained from Chinese military companies operating inside the US. That list of companies is published each year and known as Section 1286.
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Congress gave the Pentagon until mid-2027 to begin enforcing that clause, and Cadenazzi said he and his team are working on the path towards compliance. For any company that may need a waiver, he urged them to apply in 2026.
“We’re going to start servicing these inside contracting businesses in advance of the enforcement. … If you start to ask for a waiver starting ‘27 that’s going to be a painful process for everyone. We’d rather you go ahead and start early,” Cadenazzi added. “There’s plenty of great commercial supply chain tools that are out there that you can subscribe to get insights on these issues. You should do that. Take advantage of all this information.”
However, the department is also eyeing the creation of a mechanism of sorts that would allow companies to better track second and third level suppliers. While he did not describe what that mechanism might be or when it might be rolled out, he said the goal is to help companies identify vendors and qualify new ones.
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For years, department officials have been warning companies about concerns such as supply chain disruption to risk of spyware when they use Chinese-produced components in weapons. The department has taken steps like creating the Section 1286 list and a list of safe aerial drones dubbed the Blue UAS Cleared List.