ADDAPT met with members of congress and procurement officers, companies and officials at the Pentagon. Click the link below for a PDF report of our trip, or read the article below.
ADDAPT members made a trip to Washington, DC September 26th and 27th. The goal of this trip was to further our primary mission: bring more defense and aerospace work to Long Island and New York. This effort included advocating on Capitol Hill for budgetary support of our customers programs, and meetings with multiple prime contractors to advocate for our members as a preferred supply base. The ADDAPT members who made the trip were Jay Mulhall (CPI Aerospace), Blll Koshansky (East/West Industries), Gary Templeton (Metadure), Robert Stricoff, John Spiezio, and Joe Spinosa.
Our group visited the offices of both our NY senators, four representatives from New York, and House members on the House Armed Services Committee. We met with House Armed Services Committee Chairman, Rep Mike Rogers, AL – 3. We invited Chairman Rogers and the members of HASC to Long Island to showcase our members and our capabilities.
We have begun discussions with both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman with the goal of bringing their leaders in sourcing and procurement here to visit and better understand the Long Island defense industrial base. We were also able to begin conversations with Boeing, Raytheon, and Bell Flight. We are pressing these conversations forward and hope to have useful contacts for our members in Q1 2024, if not sooner.
Our group was also able to meet with met with senior acquisition officials from the Air Force and Space Force at the Pentagon. The meetings provided us with insight into what the pentagon expects to procure in the future and how they are planning to do so. All of the folks with whom we met were impressed with the level of awareness and preparedness our base can demonstrate in the area of cyber-security. We hope to continue these conversations as well and will expand to the Navy and Army on future visits.
At the Pentagon, a senior Pentagon officer asked ADDAPT, if China declared war on the US today, is the Long Island Defense and Aerospace supply chain ready? Considering current world events, that question is not theoretical, John Spiezio says “Yes, we are ready, our members are a big part of that readiness.”
This is the first of many visits and conversations, and I am confident they will lead to real results for our members and for our entire supply base.
Senate:
Senator Chuck Schumer, (NY, Senate Majority Leader) Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, (NY, Member SASC)
House of Representatives:
Nick LaLotta, (NY-1, Member HASC, HHSC, HSBC)
Anthony Esposito, (NY-4, Member HHSC)
Andrew Garbarino, (NY-2, Member HHSC )
Mike Rogers, (AL-3, Chair HASC)
Elise Stefanik, (NY-21, Member HASC)
Joe Courtney, (CT-2, Member HASC, HEWC)
Ken Calvert, (CA-41, Member HAC, Chair Defense Appropriations
Beth Van Duyne, (TX-24, Member HCWM,HCSB, Bell Flight’s district)