(The Center Square) — Virginia was the top recipient of Department of Defense spending in fiscal year 2022, as shown in a DoD report attempting to increase thoughtful state and community engagement with their DoD investments.
Fiscal year 2022’s report also included grant funding for the first time.
“This snapshot provides public and private leaders with a starting place to assess how defense investments across installations, communities and the private sector can be optimized by supporting regional innovation, industrial capability and capacity, supply chain resilience and cultivating a skilled workforce,” according to a press release from the department.
Virginia ranked first for defense spending, as stated, at $62.7 billion or 11.2% of the total U.S. defense spending. Defense dollars include contracts, personnel spending and grants, comprising more of Virginia’s GDP than any other state in fiscal year 2022.
Virginia also ranked first in personnel spending at $20.3 billion and second in its number of defense personnel and in contract spending. The state has 247,314 defense workers, and with the largest naval base in the world in Norfolk, nearly 60% of personnel spending went to those in the Navy or Marines.
The commonwealth amassed $42 billion in defense contracts over the fiscal year, with Newport News shipbuilding company, Huntington Ingalls Industries garnering the largest percentage of that at $3.2 billion.
Huntington Ingalls was one of the top ten recipients of defense contracts nationally, as were three other companies headquartered in Virginia: Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics and Boeing.
By comparison, Virginia’s $62.7 billion in defense spending was twice as much as Florida’s, which ranked fourth, and four times as much as Arizona, which ranked tenth.
“As we work to deliver the technologies and services our warfighters need at speed and scale, the report highlights how the Department is expanding our relationships with industries not traditionally associated with defense and serves as a tool for state and local partners to identify new partnership opportunities,” said Radha Plumb, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.
