The number of small manufacturers in the U.S. defense industrial base is shrinking. Thousands of businesses – more than 40% of the total – have left the space over the past decade. In order to keep our nation’s armed forces moving, we must create new bridges between the Department of Defense and the nation’s manufacturing base.

The Defense Industrial Base Conference (DIBCON) was created to address this need. While other defense industry conferences and manufacturing expos exist, there is no single national event that brings together small manufacturers, economic development organizations, defense industry leaders, and DoD.

Only direct engagement will get new manufacturers to raise their hand and say they want to help. We need to empower these small businesses to compete to aid our nation’s defensive surge capacity. The purpose of DIBCON is to create that opportunity.