PA defense summit leads to nearly $10 billion in defense contracts

The two-day Pennsylvania defense summit has resulted in more than 30 agreements totaling nearly $10 billion worth of defense contracts that are expected to create more than 4,000 jobs across the state.More than 500 organizations were registered to attend the summit, which was hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The majority of the companies do business in the Keystone State.President Donald Trump led a roundtable discussion with other government and private sector officials to conclude the summit.

“We’re here today to celebrate a colossal victory for this commonwealth and for the entire nation. This afternoon, we’re announcing nearly $10 billion of new investments in our defense industry right here in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and these investments will create more than 4,000 jobs,” Trump said. “Pennsylvania workers will build the ships, submarines, trucks, weapons, and industrials that will ensure America remains the strongest and most powerful nation in the history of the world.”McCormick’s staff arranged a handful of meetings for each company involved in the summit that wanted them.There were traditional defense companies, smaller and midsized organizations trying to break into the field, military representatives, and local university leaders present at the summit.The agreements largely fall into three categories: defense industrial base, emerging technology, and research and development and workforce.Some of the larger announcements include: Rhoads industries and General Dynamics Electric Boat agreed to a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement for advanced manufacturing and shipbuilding; Day & Zimmerman agreed to a $2.3 billion contract to provide operations, maintenance, and modernization for the Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada from its Philadelphia operations; and Hanwha Group secured a $1.5 billion deal for new ship orders for the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel through the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, among others.Local universities, including Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Lackawanna College, Bucknell University, and the Pennsylvania College of Technology, all reached new agreements or extended existing ones.The Pentagon, under the Trump administration, is trying to propel the development of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and autonomy, while also recognizing it needs more young workers with trade skills, such as welders, machinists, and electricians.DAVE MCCORMICK PLAYS MATCHMAKER FOR HUNDREDS OF DEFENSE COMPANIES LOOKING TO GAIN WARFIGHTING EDGEDavid Norquist, the president of the National Defense Industrial Association, told the Washington Examiner the defense industrial base is trying to dig itself out of the hole it found itself in after leaders reduced it following the collapse of the Soviet Union.“We always say you can’t make a sergeant overnight; you have to have years of development. You also can’t make an advanced welder overnight. You can speed up the training process, but it takes years to develop that experience. And so I think what you’re seeing now is a little bit of digging out of that hole,” he said. “If you look back at the national defense strategy, first the Trump administration, Biden administration, second Trump administration, all of them have the same theme, which is the post-Cold War drawdown is over.”