JULY 16, 2026 – President Donald J. Trump announced that the War Department will be investing roughly $10 billion in materiel production while in support of more than 4,000 defense industry jobs across Pennsylvania.
Trump made the announcement yesterday while delivering keynote remarks toward the end of the first-ever Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, an event that brought together leadership from the defense, finance and technology industries for two days at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
“We’re here today to celebrate a colossal victory for this commonwealth and for the entire nation,” Trump said, just before making the announcement.
“Pennsylvania workers will build the ships, submarines, trucks, weapons and industries that ensure America remains the strongest and most powerful nation in the history of the world — we’re doing better now than [we’ve] ever done,” he added.
More than 30 announcements regarding where the funds would be invested came out of the summit, all of them collectively geared toward advancing munitions, shipbuilding, and the space domain industry, as well as artificial intelligence, robotics and other emerging technologies.
“This year we’re celebrating the 250th anniversary of American freedom, and no state has been more central to protecting that freedom than the commonwealth of 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.
The arsenal of freedom refers to the department’s support for the defense industrial base by delivering a call to action to revitalize America’s manufacturing might and reenergize the nation’s workforce.
In January, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth kicked off a multiweek Arsenal of Freedom tour, promoting one of the War Department’s top priorities of rebuilding the military by engaging with the defense industrial base at various stops throughout the country.
Hegseth, who joined Trump during his remarks, praised the summit for bringing so many of the right people with ties to the DIB together at once.
“It is true to say that there has never been a moment like this, or a stage like this, where innovators, prime contractors, private equity titans of industry, labor leaders [and] defense leaders have come together for this type of moment,” Hegseth said. “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.”
The secretary also credited Trump for prioritizing rebuilding the military in his second term.
“When you talk about the arsenal of freedom, this is only something a ‘builder in chief’ could unleash. … In defense, specifically, this is a generational investment in the future of our warfighting capabilities that our country has not seen since [former President] Ronald Reagan,” Hegseth said to Trump.
During his presidency in the Cold War-era 1980s, and in service to his policy doctrine of peace through strength, Ronald Reagan initiated the largest peacetime military buildup in U.S. history, bolstering the Navy to a fleet of 600 ships, developing advanced nuclear programs, and modernizing conventional forces.
Similarly, and also under the same doctrine, Trump and the War Department are currently seeking $1.5 trillion for defense spending in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal.
“This investment will fundamentally change the battlefield [and] keep the American people [safe] into the future,” Hegseth said.
By Matthew Olay
Pentagon News