Sen. Dave McCormick: Pennsylvania could be ‘the point of the spear’ in defense innovation

By Peter Hall, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
July 15, 2026

The path of American military history has passed through Pennsylvania during each of the nation’s most consequential conflicts, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.

The arsenal there supported Gen. George Washington’s army and the hallowed ground of Gettysburg’s battlefield was only about 30 miles away, McCormick noted.

And during World War II, the commonwealth earned the nickname “the Arsenal of Democracy” as its mines, steel mills and shipyards churned out weapons for the United States and its allies, he said during the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit attended by 600 C-suite executives representing 500 companies.

McCormick’s office announced Wednesday the two-day summit had catalyzed nearly $10 billion in new investment in the commonwealth’s defense industrial base, emerging technology, research and development and workforce development.

As the nation reaches toward a future where artificial intelligence, robotics, drones and autonomous vehicles play a larger role on the front lines, Pennsylvania is poised to strengthen its position as a base for production and innovation in the defense industry, McCormick said.

The commonwealth has roughly 9,000 defense-related companies that employ 90,000 people supplying materials and parts for cutting edge defense systems, he noted.

“We’re entering a new phase of enormous innovation in defense, and Pennsylvania should be, and in many ways is the point of the spear,” McCormick, a Republican, said in a panel discussion with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and executives from two prime defense contractors.

Shapiro agreed, adding that along with the state’s traditional defense industries and its academic institutions, the state boasts a strong AI and tech sector.

Its investments in workforce development and economic growth help to attract new companies, such as South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Group. The company announced last year it would invest $5 billion in the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where it will eventually build U.S. warships, he said.

Shapiro and McCormick agreed China is the greatest threat to U.S. geopolitical leadership and is moving “too fast” in its development of advanced military technology. The United States needs to work faster to connect the research happening in its universities with tech companies and defense contractors by streamlining its weapons procurement process.

The governor warned that the isolationist policies of the Trump administration threaten to cut it off from its trading and military partners, who are force-multipliers in the fight to stay ahead of the United States’ rivals.

“I get a little bit concerned when our administration pokes their finger in the eye of our allies,” Shapiro said. “That undermines our ability to innovate, and it undermines our ability to be stronger with our national defense and to have a deterrence that is going to protect the American people and protect our interests abroad.”

The Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit is the second gathering of industry, academic and government leaders that McCormick and his wife, Meta president Dina Powell McCormick, have organized. Last July, they hosted a summit on energy and artificial intelligence in Pittsburgh.

The two-day event at the War College was headlined by President Donald Trump, who was to conclude the gathering Wednesday afternoon.

The event featured exhibits by defense contractors ranging from General Dynamics, which operates a munitions plant in northeast Pennsylvania, to small robotics and drone developers.

Michael Coulter, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense USA, said that by working with the Trump administration, the state and city government, the company has plans to double the size of its footprint and has more than doubled its workforce with plans to hire up to 10,000 people.

Hanwha has already invested more than $200 million in the shipyard, which is more than the facility has since the second world war, Coulter said.

“So we are ‘foot on the throttle’ to make shipbuilding great again, and Pennsylvania is the heart of that,” he said.

General Dynamics employs 2,200 people in eight operations in the commonwealth, company President Danny Deep said. But what makes the company’s presence here unique is the diversity of the operations.

They include the Scranton Army Munitions Plant, where the company nearly quadrupled its production of 155 mm Howitzer shells to 50,000 a month to support Ukranian forces in the war with Russia. That expansion was the result of a $500 million investment from the U.S. government, he said.

Both Coulter and Deep said a workforce trained in skilled trades like welders, boilermakers, and electricians are crucial both to maintaining the nation’s status as a defense leader. It was a theme repeated by other speakers throughout Wednesday’s program.

But companies like Hanwha are also focused on the workforce of the future, which will be heavily involved in automation and robotics. Coulter said.

“People mistake automation and robotics with the lack of jobs or replacing jobs. I can tell you, our shipyard in Korea, we have 30,000 workers, and it is very highly automated,” Coulter said, adding that getting students onto a vocational or technical career track is crucial.

Shapiro noted Pennsylvania has drawn 43,000 high school students into career and technical education to learn skilled trades.

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, who moderated the discussion, asked the panelists what is their greatest concern about national security.

Deep, of General Dynamics, said it’s complacency about the state of geopolitics.

“I think there has been a real call to action over the last number of years as we’ve seen these conflicts around the world proliferate and the threat environment get worse and worse,” he said. “At the end of the day, there’s a monopsony buyer, and so the threat environment dictates the policy environment, and the policy environment dictates the budget environment, and the budget environment will either attract players into this field or it won’t.”

McCormick said the threat from China depends on how the nation moves forward with its defense policy, noting the Department of War must undergo dramatic changes. Strategic resources such as rare earth metals must be treated as a national security issue. And the nation needs a workforce that can meet the moment.

“It’s like a symphony. All the different parts have to work together,” he said.

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