Accelerating America's Defense Manufacturing

The Velocity Summit is a one-day event built around a central premise: America's defense manufacturing capacity problem is, at its heart, a velocity problem.

The United States possesses extraordinary engineering talent, technology, capital, and advanced manufacturing expertise. Yet modern requirements are exposing the challenges of an industrial system that can take years to translate military needs into manufactured capability, scale production when demands change, and navigate complex supply chains.

The Summit will convene senior leaders from across North Carolina and the national defense ecosystem, including advanced manufacturing, aerospace and maritime, logistics and supply chain, the U.S. military and federal government, technology, academia and research, workforce development, and economic development.

At the heart of the Summit is a fundamental question: What would have to change for the United States to become dramatically faster at turning a military need into manufactured capability at scale, and how can North Carolina lead the way?

Discussions will explore production capacity, supply chain resilience, workforce development, advanced manufacturing technologies, and strategies to strengthen the Defense Industrial Base. The Summit will spotlight North Carolina's manufacturing, military, research, and logistics capabilities and how they can help accelerate defense manufacturing and support national security objectives.