CARLISLE- Business executives, government leaders and academic officials gathered at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit this week with a shared message: maintaining America\u2019s military advantage will require faster innovation, stronger public-private partnerships and a skilled workforce prepared for the future.<\/p>\n
Hosted by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick at the U.S. Army War College, the summit brought together leaders from industry, government and higher education to discuss strengthening the nation\u2019s defense industrial base while positioning Pennsylvania as a national leader in defense manufacturing and technology.<\/p>\n
Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi, who moderated one of the summit\u2019s panels, highlighted the university\u2019s long-standing contributions to national defense research.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Penn State University, $1.45 billion in research is conducted annually, and 30% of that is from the Department of Defense,\u201d Bendapudi said. \u201cNot a single submarine has been built in the last seven decades that hasn\u2019t had Penn State University expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCormick said Pennsylvania\u2019s combination of manufacturing, research institutions and skilled workforce makes it uniquely positioned to lead the next generation of defense innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on the cusp, but we have to really drive a dramatic transformation in how we think about national security and who\u2019s leading the charge,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cEverybody should leave here anxious that we\u2019re not doing enough, anxious to do more, anxious to work together and anxious to follow up on creating the kind of change that everybody on this panel has talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the defense sector represents one of the Commonwealth\u2019s greatest opportunities for economic growth while strengthening national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the defense space, with all the promise that it has, ends up being a key part of our growth in this Commonwealth,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cMy hope, based on this summit, is not so much the conversations that take place up here, but the private conversations that you all have in the hallways that lead to commercial activity, that leads to more job creation in Pennsylvania, leads to more prosperity for Pennsylvanians, and most importantly, more national security for the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapiro noted Pennsylvania\u2019s economy grew 5.4% last year, ranking among the nation\u2019s fastest-growing economies, while the state has increased funding for workforce development and apprenticeship programs by more than 60%.<\/p>\n
Hanwha Defense USA CEO Michael Coulter outlined the company\u2019s major investments in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where the company plans to expand domestic shipbuilding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more than doubled the workforce since we acquired the shipyard,\u201d Coulter said. \u201cWe\u2019ve put over $200 million into the shipyard in the past year. We are \u2018foot on the throttle\u2019 to make shipbuilding great again, and Pennsylvania is the heart of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coulter emphasized that automation will create new opportunities rather than eliminate jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re envisioning the workforce of the future,\u201d he said. \u201cToday I\u2019m a welder. Tomorrow I\u2019m operating five robot welders. Five years from now I\u2019m doing something even more advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n
General Dynamics Executive Vice President Danny Deep said Pennsylvania has become one of the company\u2019s most important manufacturing hubs, employing more than 2,200 workers and relying on over 1,100 suppliers across the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the war started in Ukraine, we were producing 14,000 rounds of artillery a month,\u201d Deep said. \u201cThrough government investment and General Dynamics investment, we went from 14,000 rounds a month to 50,000 rounds a month. That\u2019s because of this public-private partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deep warned that the nation\u2019s biggest threat may be complacency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t get complacent, and we can\u2019t assume that once this acute threat goes away, we can fall back on our laurels,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this intensity and this focus wanes in any way, it will be catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCormick agreed, pointing to China as America\u2019s greatest strategic competitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina is our primary adversary in terms of a risk to our geopolitical leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cWinning for America and winning for Pennsylvania is a team sport. We need labor leaders at the table. We need the traditional defense companies. We need emerging technologies. We need Republicans and Democrats working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapiro echoed those concerns, saying innovation and faster procurement will be critical to maintaining America\u2019s competitive edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest risks are a lack of innovation, a procurement process that\u2019s too damn slow at a time where China\u2019s moving too fast, and isolation,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out a way to better and more quickly connect the research that\u2019s happening in our universities with our tech companies, with our traditional defense companies, and streamline that process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor also stressed the importance of working alongside allied nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the unique advantages we have is we\u2019re the United States of America,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cWe have an opportunity to bring allies in, rely on some of their research institutions and innovation, and work together to continue to build the modern-day arsenal of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel concluded with speakers expressing optimism that the summit will generate new partnerships and investment opportunities throughout Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciate the senator pulling this forum together,\u201d Deep said. \u201cAerospace and defense is unique. To be successful, it has to be a partnership between industry, academia and government. That\u2019s the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bendapudi noted, \u201c\u201dWe don\u2019t want you to just leave here with a good memory. We want you to come back and invest here. We have a governor that\u2019s determined to make us agile and responsive, a senator who\u2019s bringing everyone together, business partners who are ready to work with you, and university systems saying, \u2018Come here. We want to grow with you.”\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARLISLE- Business executives, government leaders and academic officials gathered at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit this week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[104541,47545,10168,104542,18170,55016,28,30,29,3415,8574],"class_list":["post-244125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-base","tag-build","tag-defense","tag-discuss","tag-industrial","tag-mccormick","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-shapiro","tag-speed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}