The North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC) and The Protocase Companies have announced the inaugural Velocity Summit, scheduled for November 17, 2026, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The event will bring together leaders from industry, the military, government, policy, research, workforce development, and media to confront a pressing national security challenge: the slow translation of military requirements into manufactured capability. With production delays, supply chain constraints, and limited surge capacity putting national security at risk, the summit seeks to identify practical solutions to accelerate defense manufacturing at scale.
America's defense manufacturing challenge is fundamentally one of speed. Despite exceptional engineering talent, technology, capital, and advanced manufacturing expertise, it can take years to move from military requirements to fielded systems. The Velocity Summit will focus on how the United States can turn requirements into manufacturing capability more quickly, reducing barriers across the defense industrial base, strengthening supply chains, and expanding capacity to build and sustain ships, aircraft, munitions, and other critical systems. North Carolina businesses are positioned to play a leadership role in innovating around these constraints.
Dr. Doug Milburn, co-founder of Protocase, emphasized the state's potential: "We have an extraordinary collection of assets in this state. The opportunity is to connect those strengths around a common mission. That is what Velocity is intended to begin." North Carolina boasts significant advantages: the Department of Defense has an estimated $79.7 billion annual economic impact in the state, where the military is the second-largest economic sector. The state also has the Southeast's largest manufacturing workforce—approximately 459,000 jobs—more than 400 aerospace manufacturers, over 100,000 aerospace, aviation, and engineering professionals, six major military installations, two deep-water ports, leading research universities, and a statewide community college system.
Jimmy Hendrix, Director for Regional Programs at NCMBC, underscored the urgency: "It is the speed at which we can bring those strengths together to meet urgent national security needs. Velocity Summit is about creating the connections and alignment needed to help transform those strengths into faster, more responsive defense manufacturing capacity for the nation." The summit is designed not as a traditional conference but as a working session to advance practical solutions and durable partnerships among industry, government, academia, and the military. NCMBC and The Protocase Companies envision the inaugural event as the beginning of a broader effort to strengthen defense manufacturing and raise the visibility of North Carolina's industrial capabilities.
For more information and to register, visit https://www.ncmbc.us/event/velocity-summit/. A new episode of ProtoPod featuring Dr. Doug Milburn and Jimmy Hendrix discussing the summit is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIQd1dHTixo.
