In January, the Department of Defense released a new National Defense Strategy (NDS).  If you run a workforce board, lead an economic development agency, or manage training programs, here is the one thing you need to know: the federal government is investing heavily in domestic defense manufacturing, and it needs your region to produce the workers.

That is not a vague aspiration.  Money is already moving, procurement rules are being rewritten, and new contracts are flowing to manufacturers across the country.  The regions that are ready will capture these jobs.  The ones that are not will watch them go somewhere else.

What Just Changed

Every administration publishes a defense strategy. This one is different in one critical respect: it makes rebuilding America’s manufacturing base a top-tier national security priority, on par with deterring China and defending the homeland.  The strategy uses the phrase “supercharge the defense industrial base” and calls for a “once-in-a-century revival of American industry.”

What does that look like in practice? Three things are already happening:

• More money for defense manufacturing.  The defense R&D budget is going up by $21 billion this year.  That money flows to manufacturers who need skilled workers to fulfill the contracts.
• Simpler rules for companies to win defense work.  The Pentagon just eliminated 31 outdated procurement regulations, and it is asking industry to identify more rules to cut.  This means smaller manufacturers—the ones in your community—face fewer barriers to getting defense contracts.
• An explicit call for workforce surge capacity.  The strategy says the U.S. must be able to scale up production rapidly in a crisis.  You cannot surge production without trained people ready to step onto the floor. expansion in 2022 and $450 million in 2023.

Why This Matters in Your Community

Defense manufacturing does not just happen at shipyards and missile plants.  It happens at the machine shop making precision parts for a Tier 2 supplier.  It happens at the electronics assembler building circuit boards for radar systems.  Many of these companies are already in your region—and they are about to get busier.

The problem is workers.  Defense manufacturing employment has dropped 63.5% since 1985.  Submarine production alone needs nearly 100,000 skilled workers over the next decade.  And many defense jobs require security clearances that take 6 to 18 months to process, which means the hiring pipeline needs to start now, not when the contract lands.

What to do Monday Morning

Find your defense manufacturers.  You may not know which employers in your area are part of the defense supply chain.  Manufacturing Momentum’s data tools can help you identify them.  Start there.

Talk to your MEP center.  Your state’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership works directly with small and mid-sized manufacturers.  They know which companies are trying to break into defense work and what skills they need.  That is your training program blueprint.

Build clearance timelines into your career pathways.  If participants do not know that many defense manufacturing jobs require a security clearance—and that the process takes months—they will be caught off guard.  Factor this into your program design

Connect your training to what DoD actually needs.  The Department of Defense has identified 14 priority technology areas, from advanced materials to microelectronics.  If your programs are not aligned to these areas, you are building pathways to yesterday’s jobs. 

Target veterans and transitioning service members.  They already have clearances, familiarity with defense systems, and the discipline employers want.  Programs like SkillBridge can bridge them into manufacturing careers, but you have to actively recruit them. 

Use the strategy to strengthen your funding proposals.  Federal grants and economic development programs increasingly reward alignment with national security priorities.  Referencing the defense strategy in your applications tells funders your region understands the national context and is ready to act.

The Bottom Line

This is not a theoretical shift.  Defense manufacturing investment is accelerating right now, and the workforce is the constraint.  The regions that map their defense manufacturing assets, align their training programs, and start building pipelines today will be the ones that capture these high-skill, high-wage jobs.  The question is whether yours will be one of them.