Trump, McCormick tout $10 billion in new investments to Pa. defense

The list of investment announcements from Sen. McCormick fall into three categories: (1) Defense Industrial Base, (2) Emerging Technology, and (3) R&D and Workforce.

Strengthening the Defense Industrial Base

• Rhoads Industries & General Dynamics Electric Boat (Philadelphia) — A 10-year, $2.5 billion strategic agreement for advanced manufacturing and shipbuilding to support U.S. Navy submarine construction from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, supporting approximately 1,350 jobs through 2035.

• Hanwha Group / Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard (Philadelphia) — New ship orders for the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel through the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), valued at $1.5 billion in program costs and supporting over 2,000 jobs.

• JPMorganChase (Philadelphia) — Nearly $25 million ($18 million in loans and investments, plus almost $6 million in grants) to strengthen Philadelphia’s shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing sector, helping expand a submarine manufacturing facility projected to create 450 permanent jobs, training hundreds of workers, and supporting up to 100 maritime suppliers.

• Day & Zimmermann (Philadelphia) — $2.3 billion contract to provide operations, maintenance, and modernization for the Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada, delivered from its Philadelphia operations.

• EOS (Pittsburgh) — A strategic partnership with the Department of War to enhance the resilience of national defense infrastructure. Eos was awarded a Golden Dome for America contract to integrate mission-ready long-duration energy storage supporting requirements of the nation’s defense shield.

• JWF Industries (Windber, Cambria County) — More than $500 million in anticipated new defense manufacturing contracts and long-term agreements, alongside a 200,000-square-foot facility expansion supporting approximately 200 new jobs by December 2027.

• Mack Defense (Allentown) — An additional Army order for 115 Heavy Dump Trucks for the Army National Guard, bringing 2026 orders to 208 trucks worth more than $84 million under a five-year contract worth up to $221.8 million.

• Attalon (new headquarters in Philadelphia) — An 80,000-square-foot facility opening in 2027 that more than quadruples U.S. precision coatings production for guided munitions, representing $30 million-plus in investment and 100 jobs.

• Kratos Defense (York) — A new 167,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility, Kratos’ third in Pennsylvania, backed by more than $7 million in new production equipment and supporting 440-plus employees statewide.

 

• Karman Space & Defense (Horsham, Montgomery County) — A $2.7 million expansion to test and qualify advanced material technologies for the Navy surface fleet, creating about 20 new jobs and retaining 40.
• Advanced Cooling Technologies (Lancaster) — A new 50,000-square-foot cold plate facility and expanded heat pipe production for satellites, defense systems, and AI data centers, with plans to hire up to 100 employees.

• Sphere Brake Defense (Erie) — A $4.5 million U.S. Marine Corps contract for certification and production of sphere brake kits for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle fleet, supporting three additional Erie hires.

• Acutronic Group (Pittsburgh) — A $14–30 million investment in a new Pittsburgh facility — the world’s largest dedicated to rate tables, hardware-in-the-loop simulators, and stabilized platforms — expected to double its Pennsylvania workforce (about 100 jobs) over five years.

• U.S. Metal Powders / AMPAL (Palmerton, Carbon County) — A fourth production line expanding aluminum powder capacity to 52 million pounds annually, adding spherical aluminum powder for solid rocket motor propellant and missile defense programs ($10 million, 15 new jobs).

• Firepoint Energy (Tunnelton, Indiana County) — A pilot facility converting waste coal into synthetic jet fuel, power, and critical minerals, with testing showing 12 of the 13 minerals sought by the Department of War present in the feedstock ($170 million–$2 billion, 50 jobs).

• Qintel (Pittsburgh) — An $84 million multi-year contract with U.S. Cyber Command, adding to existing work with the FBI, HSI, USSS, IRS, and Intelligence Community partners, from a 100-person, fully bootstrapped Pittsburgh headquarters.

 

Fielding Emerging Technology — AI, Autonomy & Space

• Blade Diagnostics (Pittsburgh) — The U.S. Air Force is expanding Blade’s SmartBlend engine sustainment platform across the entire F-35 fleet, with projected savings of $1–2 billion.

• Carnegie Robotics (Pittsburgh) — Selected for Phase III of the Army’s GEARS/ATV-S autonomous ground logistics program, positioning the company for a future production opportunity worth up to $400 million across more than 750 Army tactical logistics vehicles.

• Reflection (Pittsburgh) — Entered agreements to serve as an open-model AI provider to the Department of Energy and the Pentagon.

• Voyager Technologies & Astrobotic (Pittsburgh) — Completed an acquisition of Astrobotic (rebranded Voyager Lunar Systems, retaining approximately 150 Pittsburgh jobs) valued at up to $300 million, alongside a roughly $297 million NASA task order for lunar surface delivery.

• Deepwave Digital (Berks County) — Deploying RF AI systems, now in low-rate initial production flight tests with the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, to protect American aircraft and crews ($30–70 million).

• Aalyria Technologies (Pittsburgh) — Signed on to use a new DIU-funded Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in Pittsburgh, growing its local team with CMU and Pitt talent.

• Parallax Advanced Research & RIDC (Pittsburgh) — Building the new $10 million DIU-funded SCIF in Pittsburgh, enabling classified defense collaboration among government, industry, and academia, anchored by Aalyria, Qintel, Deepwave Digital, and Voicd.

• Voicd (Pittsburgh) — A CMU-developed, AI-powered voice intelligence platform that detects deepfake and synthetic speech and authenticates speakers, already adopted by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Senate, with patents filed across the U.S., Europe, and China.

• Re:Build Manufacturing (New Kensington, Westmoreland County) — Launched a line of U.S.-assembled, NDAA-compliant lithium-ion drone battery packs as part of an $81 million investment to scale Pennsylvania drone manufacturing, expected to create up to 300 jobs.

 

Building the R&D and Workforce Pipeline

• Penn State — A new 10-year Army support agreement (RIGSA), a five-year nuclear research and workforce partnership with Westinghouse (including annual fellowships, 40 paid summer internships, and exploration of a HORIZON research test reactor), and a new START+ gas turbine testing laboratory opening in August to support commercial and military engines, including the F-135, in partnership with the FAA, DOE, and RTX-Pratt & Whitney.

• Penn State National Security Institute — Gen. (Ret.) Gary Brito will serve as inaugural chair of the NSI Strategic Advisory Council.

• University of Pittsburgh — Launched the MACAM consortium, spanning 13 Department of War medical research labs, CMU, and industry, to advance autonomous battlefield medicine, building on more than $500 million in Department funding since 2019 and $9 million in current MACAM awards.
• Trivedi Institute, University of Pittsburgh — New Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine, building Pennsylvania’s space and defense biomedicine ecosystem, with six jobs planned in year one.

• Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Foundry, ViDARR, and Envision Technology — Launched the Autonomous Systems Manufacturing Platform, leveraging more than $50 million in CMU investment to help U.S. companies rapidly scale secure, domestic production of autonomous systems.
• Keystone Space Collaborative — Announced as Pennsylvania’s dedicated statewide space industry organization, alongside a new Tri-State Space Compact with Ohio and West Virginia.

• Voyager Technologies & Geisinger Health (Montour County) — A Memorandum of Understanding making Geisinger Health the first biopharma and life sciences tenant of Voyager’s VISTA platform, enabling microgravity-based drug development and research ($1 million).

• Voyager Technologies & Penn State — MOU establishing a Penn State presence in the VISTA science park, connecting university researchers to microgravity research aboard the ISS and future commercial stations.

• Lackawanna College (Scranton) — A $20 million skilled-trades and technology expansion, including a new Center for Technology and Innovation focused on robotics, energy, and cybersecurity, plus three new skilled trades centers.

• QE Manufacturing & Bucknell University — A $70,000 grant funding a 15-month collaboration studying AI-powered automation in precision manufacturing for aerospace and defense. 
• Pennsylvania College of Technology & BAE Systems (Lycoming County) — BAE renewed its support for Penn College’s welding programs with a $10,000 grant, supporting 360-plus students and feeding a direct pipeline into defense manufacturing, including BAE’s York site.
• U.S. Army AI2C & FUZE — Hosted the Robotics, AI and Autonomy Forum at CMU’s Robotics Innovation Center, drawing 350-plus attendees and 50-plus companies and academic partners from 28 states.

• Southwest Pennsylvania Defense Ecosystem — A new government-industry-academia coalition spanning ten Southwest Pennsylvania counties to accelerate mission-focused innovation and speed technology transition to warfighters.