The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of the United States maintaining a competitive military advantage in an aggressive and adversarial global environment. The study’s methodology was a qualitative narrative inquiry based on an extensive literature review detailed in Chapter 2 and continued in Chapter 4 with the evaluation of the findings. The results indicated that the United States is committed to maintaining a military competitive advantage and applying resources to pursue that goal. The commitment does not guarantee that the United States will maintain its competitive military advantage without significant and continuing applied effort and persistence in a whole of government approach. The study revealed the importance of using private sector innovation to support strong national defense interests and remains a topic for ongoing academic and practitioner awareness, analysis, and understanding. Although the current political climate appears favorable for the United States Department of Defense with respect to fiscal budgeting, use of private sector innovation may not be readily available from some private sector providers. This is a challenge for the Department of Defense Reliance 21 program whose efforts are discussed in detail in the study. There is benefit in continuing to study the issues to understand how political and economic leanings affect the economic climate with respect to private sector innovation supporting a U.S. military competitive advantage. Use of private sector innovation in support of maintaining a national competitive advantage is not a new concept, but there is an ongoing opportunity for academic research and study to gain useful insight and recommendations to enlighten those who are not entrenched in the topic as part of their routine reflection.