Summit highlights DOD Defense Industrial Workforce Strategy

During the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) Summit in Danville, Virginia, Department of Defense (DOD) officials highlighted the agency’s Defense Industrial Workforce Strategy.

The presentation, Perspectives on Industrial Workforce Challenges, addressed perspectives on closing defense industrial base workforce skills gaps — with a concentration on the submarine shipbuilding sector.

“The advances here in Danville have resonance far beyond shipbuilding and will enable the future of American production by cultivating the people who will build our country back better,” Jesse Salazar, deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, said. “The ATDM model, led by Team Danville, will help the DOD scale American capacity to manufacture the exceptional parts, machines, and resilient supply chain materials our warfighters need.”

Officials indicated the ATDM initiative enables the DOD to partner with industry, academia, and state and local governments to act upon industrial workforce shortages impacting production and sustainment of defense systems.

“Our Team Danville partners, led by the Institute of Advanced Learning and Research, as well as all the world class students in the ATDM program, are on the leading edge of this exciting and innovative effort to rebuild America’s manufacturing and industrial workforce,” Adele Ratcliff, Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) director, said. “I look forward to our continued success together.”