- DOW will invest about $10 billion in materiel production
- More than 30 announcements span three investment categories
- Attend the Potomac Officers Club’s DOW summits this summer
The Department of War will invest approximately $10 billion in materiel production, supporting more than 4,000 defense industry jobs across Pennsylvania.
Attend the Potomac Officers Club’s two DOW summits this summer, spotlighting many of the same defense industrial base and emerging technology priorities highlighted at the Pennsylvania summit. Sign up now for the 2026 Air and Space Summit on July 30 to hear discussions on artificial intelligence, Golden Dome, commercial space relay and other defense technology priorities. You can also reserve your spot today for the 2026 Navy Summit on Aug. 27 to explore digital engineering, AI, autonomous systems and next-generation capabilities.
DOW said Thursday President Donald Trump made the announcement during his keynote address on Wednesday at the inaugural Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, a two-day event held at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
“With today’s announcement, Pennsylvania will play a key role in building the arsenal of freedom to defend our nation in the modern world,” the president said.
More than 30 investment announcements came out of the summit, spanning munitions, shipbuilding, space, artificial intelligence and robotics.
What Did DOW Secretary Hegseth Say About the DIB?
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, a two-time Wash100 awardee, joined Trump at the summit and praised the event for bringing together innovators, prime contractors, private equity investors, labor leaders and defense officials. Hegseth said the investment marks the largest warfighting capability buildup since former President Ronald Reagan’s defense expansion in the 1980s. He noted that the investment will change the battlefield and keep Americans safe.
“There’s never been a moment like this where the aperture has opened up inside the [War Department] for defense and [for] the second word: innovation,” he said at the event.
In January, Hegseth launched a multiweek Arsenal of Freedom tour to engage with the defense industrial base nationwide.
What Are the Summit’s Key Defense Industry Announcements?
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said the event generated more than $10 billion in new investment supporting nearly 5,000 Pennsylvania jobs. The announcements fall into three categories: defense industrial base; emerging technology; and research and development and workforce.
Strengthening the Defense Industrial Base
- Acutronic Group — $14 million-$30 million investment in a new facility for rate tables and simulators, doubling its workforce in five years
- Advanced Cooling Technologies — New 50,000-square-foot cold plate facility for satellites and AI data centers, adding up to 100 jobs
- Air, formerly Govini — 10-year, $450 million expansion of its Pittsburgh office, adding 40 jobs
- Attalon — New 80,000-square-foot Philadelphia headquarters quadrupling U.S. precision coatings production for guided munitions, a $30 million-plus investment creating 100 jobs
- Day & Zimmermann — $2.3 billion contract for operations, maintenance and modernization at the Hawthorne Army Depot
- EOS — Strategic partnership with DOW and a Golden Dome for America contract to integrate long-duration energy storage
- Firepoint Energy — Pilot facility converting waste coal into synthetic jet fuel and critical minerals, a $170 million-$2 billion investment creating 50 jobs
- Hanwha Group / Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard — New National Security Multi-Mission Vessel orders through MARAD, valued at $1.5 billion and supporting over 2,000 jobs
- JPMorganChase — Nearly $25 million in loans and grants to strengthen Philadelphia’s shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing sector
- JWF Industries — More than $500 million in anticipated defense manufacturing contracts alongside a facility expansion creating approximately 200 jobs
- Karman Space & Defense — $2.7 million expansion to test and qualify materials for the Navy surface fleet, creating about 20 new jobs
- Kratos Defense — New 167,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility, its third in Pennsylvania, supporting 440-plus employees statewide
- Lockheed Martin — $60 million-plus investment to expand its Archbald facility, creating approximately 700 new jobs
- Mack Defense — Additional Army order for 115 heavy dump trucks, bringing 2026 orders to 208 trucks worth more than $84 million
- Qintel — $84 million multi-year contract with U.S. Cyber Command, adding to existing federal agency work
- Rhoads Industries & General Dynamics Electric Boat — 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement for submarine manufacturing at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, supporting 1,350 jobs through 2035
- Sphere Brake Defense — $4.5 million Marine Corps contract for Amphibious Combat Vehicle brake kit production
- U.S. Metal Powders / AMPAL — Fourth production line expanding aluminum powder capacity to 52 million pounds annually, a $10 million investment creating 15 jobs
Fielding Emerging Technology — AI, Autonomy & Space
- Aalyria Technologies — Signed on to use a new DIU-funded Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, growing its local CMU and Pitt talent team
- Blade Diagnostics — U.S. Air Force expanding its SmartBlend engine sustainment platform across the entire F-35 fleet, with projected savings of $1 billion-$2 billion
- Carnegie Robotics — Selected for Phase III of the Army’s GEARS/ATV-S autonomous ground logistics program, a future opportunity worth up to $400 million
- Deepwave Digital — Deploying RF AI systems in flight testing with the Air Force and Air National Guard, valued at $30 million-$70 million
- Parallax Advanced Research & RIDC — Building a new $10 million DIU-funded SCIF enabling classified defense collaboration among government, industry and academia
- Re:Build Manufacturing — Launched U.S.-assembled drone battery packs as part of an $81 million investment, expected to create up to 300 jobs
- Reflection — Entered agreements to serve as an open-model AI provider to the Department of Energy and the Pentagon
- Voicd — CMU-developed deepfake detection platform already adopted by the U.S. Secret Service and Senate
- Voyager Technologies & Astrobotic — Completed a $300 million acquisition of Astrobotic alongside a $297 million NASA lunar delivery order
Building the R&D and Workforce Pipeline
- Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Foundry, ViDARR & Envision Technology — Launched the Autonomous Systems Manufacturing Platform, backed by more than $50 million in CMU investment
- Keystone Space Collaborative — Announced as Pennsylvania’s dedicated statewide space industry organization alongside a new Tri-State Space Compact
- Lackawanna College — $20 million skilled-trades and technology expansion, including a new Center for Technology and Innovation
- Penn State — New 10-year Army support agreement, a five-year nuclear research partnership with Westinghouse, and a new gas turbine testing laboratory
- Penn State National Security Institute — Gary Brito, a retired U.S. Army general, named inaugural chair of the NSI Strategic Advisory Council
- Pennsylvania College of Technology & BAE Systems — BAE renewed its support for Penn College’s welding programs with a $10,000 grant, supporting more than 360 students
- QE Manufacturing & Bucknell University — $70,000 grant funding a 15-month collaboration studying AI-powered automation in precision manufacturing
- Southwest Pennsylvania Defense Ecosystem — New government-industry-academia coalition spanning 10 Southwest Pennsylvania counties
- Trivedi Institute, University of Pittsburgh — New Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine, with six jobs planned in year one
- U.S. Army AI2C & FUZE — Hosted the Robotics, AI and Autonomy Forum at CMU’s Robotics Innovation Center, drawing 350-plus attendees
- University of Pittsburgh — Launched the MACAM consortium spanning 13 Department of War medical research labs to advance autonomous battlefield medicine
- Voyager Technologies & Geisinger Health — MOU making Geisinger Health the first biopharma tenant of Voyager’s VISTA platform, enabling microgravity drug research
- Voyager Technologies & Penn State — MOU establishing a Penn State presence in the VISTA science park for microgravity research
