FORT WAYNE — U.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) welcomed top military leaders, defense industry executives, and technology innovators to Fort Wayne today for the opening day of the 5th Annual Northeast Indiana Defense Summit.
The two-day conference kicked off with keynote remarks from Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, followed by high-level panel discussions highlighting Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division’s evolving role in national security and Indiana’s emerging position as a premier national testbed for uncrewed aerial systems (drones).
Economic Growth and State Leadership
Opening the event, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston emphasized the state’s economic momentum and competitive advantage in attracting industry and talent.
“In the last 5 years, real GDP growth has grown faster in Indiana than in all our neighboring states,” Speaker Huston told attendees. “And last year, more people chose to move to Indiana than all our neighboring states.”
Panel Highlights: A New Era for Crane
The summit’s first panel, titled “A New Era for Crane,” brought together military officials and industry experts to discuss how Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is shaping next-generation defense tech. The panel was moderated by Mike Johns, Senior Vice President at Kratos Defense, and featured Hon. Mike Dodd, John Burer, Phil Smith, and Rear Admiral Michael Richman.
Panelists noted how state leadership and congressional advocacy have positioned Crane to take on larger national defense assignments.
“We’ve got Senator Banks here, we’ve got the best delegation and Governor, going as far as advocacy to create different corridors,” said Hon. Mike Dodd, Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies. “Senator Banks, who was and is our leading advocate for that, ensuring we ran all the traps to ensure it could happen. That’s one of the reasons it landed here at Crane.”
Mike Johns noted that Crane is entering a transformational phase: “For decades Crane has been at the forefront of technology development, critical technologies getting out there to the warfighter, but I believe we have entered a new period that could fundamentally change Crane’s trajectory.”
Highlighting Crane’s rapid testing capabilities, Rear Admiral Michael Richman, Deputy Director of Regional Strike Systems (SSP), praised the facility’s agility: “This is new for how we have done it, certainly in the nuclear weapons world. The test capabilities and the engineering analysis capability at Crane have enabled us to do it at the speed and the speed of relevance that the Department needs.”
Panel Highlights: Indiana as the Nation’s Drone Testbed
The afternoon panel focused on Indiana’s growing uncrewed systems footprint, featuring Maj. Gen. Lawrence “Larry” Muennich, Brad Golding, Sean Conroy, and Dr. Benjamin Griffin, moderated by Daniel Sennott, Co-Chair of the National Security Group at Greenberg Traurig.
Discussing state military facilities like Camp Atterbury, Maj. Gen. Lawrence “Larry” Muennich, the Adjutant General of Indiana, emphasized a customer-first approach to defense partnerships: “If you talk to anybody who has done drone testing and evaluation at Camp Atterbury, you’re not users, you’re our customers… We partner with you so that we are all successful in what we do. And I’m proud to say, everyone I talk with really highlights how easy it is to do business with us here in Indiana.”
Moderator Daniel Sennott addressed global trade and defense supply chain challenges, specifically regarding Chinese market competition in uncrewed technology.
“When you look at Chinese competition in the drone industry… a stated goal by many of these Chinese companies is to sacrifice profit for market share in order to drive out domestic manufacturing from the United States,” Sennott noted. “Then-Congressman Banks, and now Senator Banks and their staff have done an incredible amount of work in the National Defense Authorization Act to make sure we’re combating some of these unfair trading practices from China.”
The 5th Annual Northeast Indiana Defense Summit will continue tomorrow with additional panels and presentations on military readiness, defense manufacturing, and cybersecurity.
