Tentative Agenda

For a Small or Medium-sized Manufacturer interested in defense contracting opportunities, navigating the process is a common reason many don't bother. This track includes the traditional topics provided about getting engaged (SAM Registration, CAGE Code, etc) and goes WAY deeper. This intense track provides a deep-dive into the many steps, some poorly understood, that will provide a small or medium sized manufacturer a greater chance to succeed. Be ready to take a LOT of notes!

New standards are coming starting with ASME Y14.46, the Product Definition for Additive Manufacturing. This is leading to MIL STD 31000-C, changing requirements for DoD Technical Data Packages (TDPs). At the same time, MBE (the Model Based Enterprise) has a long way to go to becoming a reality. Hear from NIST and leading ASME members chairing this important committee on how these new standards will affect DoD sustainment operations.

Use cases and models will be shared on workforce development for advanced manufacturing in Digital Thread and Automation Robotics, incorporating DOD KSA requirements. Examples of training for workshops, for-credit, and accelerated instructor training will be shared, as well as programs for outreach to remote and rural communities.

3:00 PM - Opening Remarks - Ms. Lori Baukus, ARCTOS

3:15 PM - Digital Thread Workforce Development: Defining Job Roles and Training for a Future Workforce - Mr. Kevin Hasse, ARCTOS

3:45 PM - Break

4:00 PM - Automation and Robotics: Successful Replication and Scale of DAF Requirements in an Evolving Technology Landscape - Mr. Paul Boulware, ARCTOS

4:30 PM - Advanced Manufacturing Instructor Training to Accelerate Regional Program Adoption - Ms. Lori Baukus, ARCTOS

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is evolving. Compliance is now a critical requirement for small manufacturers working within the defense supply chain. This session provides a clear, practical overview of the CMMC 2.0 standards, what they mean for your business, and how to achieve compliance without unnecessary complexity or cost. We break down key requirements, the certification process, and the specific security measures needed to protect Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). With increased enforcement & DoD contract eligibility on the line, understanding these changes is essential to maintaining and growing your defense-related business.

Presenters:
- Ms. Alannah Vann, Abacode
- Mr. CJ Messana, Abacode
- Mr. Petar Besalev, A-LIGN
- Mr. Harout Katerjian, Emgage

The AUKUS partnership and evolving strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific region are dramatically reshaping defense planning, industrial capacity requirements, and alliance interoperability. This panel explores how the geopolitical imperatives driving AUKUS are directly tied to industrial surge readiness, and how defense collaboration across the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom must extend beyond strategy into synchronized manufacturing and innovation ecosystems.

This panel assembles national leaders from federal and state government, industry, and the military to examine how public policy can better support and enable industrial surge readiness. With increasingly complex global challenges and contested logistics environments, it is vital that both legislative and regulatory frameworks align to promote a responsive and capable domestic manufacturing base. Panelists will explore how federal and state-level actions—across funding, regulation, public-private collaboration, and data access—can accelerate readiness and resilience across the defense industrial landscape.

Microelectronics is a pervasive, critical technology across DoD weapon systems with decreasing availability and is impacted by geopolitics, global finance, supply chains, and mission requirements. Panel members represent in-depth experiences in RDT&E, technical transfer, building of regional and virtual ecosystems, logistics and supply chains, and warfighter needs.

This session explores the underexamined intersection of tariffs, global trade policy, and the operational realities of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), with a specific focus on how these dynamics impact Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMMs) and the surge manufacturing ecosystem. As the U.S. Department of Defense continues to recalibrate its approach to supply chain resilience and sovereign capability, tariffs and import dependencies must be evaluated not only for their geopolitical leverage but also for their unintended consequences on domestic readiness.

This session highlights the indispensable role Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMMs) play in ensuring the Department of Defense’s ability to rapidly surge industrial output in times of crisis. As global instability, contested logistics, and just-in-time vulnerabilities demand a more responsive and distributed manufacturing base, this panel will explore how to better engage, empower, and integrate SMMs into surge planning and execution.

This panel will focus on the emergence of new defense capabilities—especially uncrewed aerial systems (UAS)—and their cascading effects on the U.S. supply chain. As modern threats evolve and demand for cutting-edge platforms intensifies, legacy manufacturing and logistics systems are being tested in unprecedented ways. Panelists will examine how the rapid growth of the UAS market, among others, requires the creation of new supply chains, novel partnerships, and accelerated innovation pipelines.

This panel provides an executive overview of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), explaining its necessity for enhancing the Defense Industrial Base's cybersecurity to protect sensitive unclassified information through consistent pre-award assessments. It covers the certification process, including required documentation like System Security Plans, data flow diagrams, and ongoing compliance efforts. The panel addresses common challenges such as budget constraints, lack of expertise, and subcontractor management. It highlights support from Cybersecurity & Compliance Service Providers for gap assessments, policy support, and cost-effective compliance. Finally, it outlines a roadmap for selecting a C3PAO and starting the certification journey.

This session brings together workforce and industry leaders to explore Oklahoma's current and future capabilities in preparing skilled labor for the evolving needs of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). Moderated by Dr. Marci Mack, the discussion will focus on how the state’s educational institutions, manufacturers, and policymakers can partner to close skills gaps and drive national leadership in advanced manufacturing.
Panelists will begin by assessing Oklahoma’s current workforce readiness to support the DIB, particularly in sectors such as precision manufacturing, automation, and cybersecurity. They will then discuss how the state’s robust network of CareerTech centers, community colleges, and universities is being leveraged to build a talent pipeline—and what more can be done to expand their impact. From partnerships between local manufacturers and the DoD to the alignment of training priorities with federal defense needs, attendees will gain insights into the collaborative efforts shaping curriculum and workforce development across the state.
The panel will also highlight critical gaps in current programs and the need for more advanced training in Industry 4.0 technologies. Specific attention will be given to how Oklahoma can align its economic development strategy with federal re-shoring efforts, and how incentives—both financial and structural—can drive workforce engagement, especially in rural and underserved communities.
Successful public-private workforce models that are already showing promise in Oklahoma will be shared as potential templates for national scalability. The conversation will also include how Tinker Air Force Base and other strategic defense assets can be catalysts for additional federal investment in training and infrastructure.
Finally, panelists will look to the future, identifying emerging technologies and defense priorities that Oklahoma’s workforce ecosystem must prepare for over the next 5–10 years—and how the state can position itself as a national leader in advanced manufacturing readiness.

As defense manufacturing transitions into a digital era, new standards are emerging that will fundamentally redefine how technical data is created, shared, and used. This panel brings together leaders from Blue Forge Alliance, NIST, and Action Engineering to discuss the evolving landscape of standards, beginning with ASME Y14.46—the foundational Product Definition for Additive Manufacturing—and its direct influence on the next major revision to MIL-STD-31000, the cornerstone specification for DoD Technical Data Packages (TDPs).

The readiness of the US defense enterprise to sustain potential conflicts is increasingly a concern. The number of companies involved in the defense industrial base (DIB) has declined consistently over many years, and continuous pressure on prime contractors for efficiency has all but eliminated excess capacity that could be used to support a surge situation.
In the summer of 2023, a working group comprised mainly of the membership of the DRIVE (Digital Research, Innovation, Validation & Experimentation) consortium organized to address these concerns, align subsequent activity and create sufficient mass around the effort to attract other organizations. Expanding to include NDIA and GA-Tech University, the group defined a “playbook” approach to analytically generate priorities supporting surge readiness.
The team addressed the initial playbook concept by organizing definition of an appropriate “demand signal” based on wargaming results. To test this approach, a fictional contested logistics scenario was composed which would facilitate simulation of impacts to fighter sortie generation as a result of mobility constraints. GA-Tech implemented and executed the simulation for several iterations of tempo changes; and planned the subsequent workshop towards verification and validation of the simulation. The workshops were attended by Industry, AF Futures, ODASD/IBP, DARPA and representatives for F-35, C-5, C-130H, and C-17. The simulations were adjusted utilizing data from the AFLCMC Decision Readiness Tool (a predictive, reliability-centered capability) and verified during the workshop. The results clearly demonstrated that mobility constraints due to supply chain limitations had a direct impact on fighter sortie generation. Attendees remarked it was the first time “kill chain to supply chain” had been simulated. Lastly from using the analytical tools of CLOUDS and DRT during this workshop it became apparent that there is an opportunity to leverage these tools as well as all other relevant analytical tools (i.e. ML\AI\QC) to further optimize the demand signal.
The second aspect of the playbook required development of an industrial response to the wargame-derived demand signal. To facilitate broader interaction, and to ensure the results of this exercise can be promoted to appropriate offices in the Pentagon and in Congress, the team established a partnership with the NDIA Manufacturing Division, who hosted the second workshop. This provided Industry a platform to recommend a range of changes to impact their agility, including business practice, improvements in manufacturing planning and execution, and supply chain orchestration. Nine industry presentations – including a lower tier – helped shape a number of concrete recommendations:

• Playbook V2.0: Resource an immediate reattack on the contested logistics scenario to determine LRU-level supply chain limitations and Industry response commensurate with that
• Build a continuous process: Identify, develop and curate trusted (validated) scenarios that support continuous analysis of surge readiness and concomitant investment planning in a dev-ops paradigm
• Pressure test: Identify and “pressure test” known supply chains for surge or accelerated production vulnerability
• Immediate DIB Expansion: Develop and implement technical approaches for US Industrial capability modeling (equipment, tooling, personnel, infrastructure) to support discovery and rapid partnering. Execute production acceleration pathfinders to rapidly test and qualify new capability.
• Pilot new business models: develop and test approaches to rapidly connect industrial response to validated demand signals (e.g. rapid govt contracting; risk sharing; incentives; stockpiling strategy; optimizing demand signal with analytics, etc.)
• Industrial Base Surge Campaign: Pursue immediate budgeting and execution of capacity increases to deliver outcomes relevant to warfighting surge needs.

These recommended activities are to be pursued in collaboration with a growing number of government offices and Industry groups accelerating their own efforts. These include ODASD/IBP, DARPA and the network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (Mfg USA), which provides access to a wide range of ecosystems, all of which are essential partners in this endeavor.

Presenters:
- Maj Gen (Ret) Tim Zadalis, USAF
- Mr. Bob Dirgo, Ohio Aerospace Institute
- Mr. Dave Crowley, StandardAero