Add Your Heading Text Here

Events

Sagamore regularly hosts events convening defense industry leaders and policymakers to collaborate on and advance national security solutions from the Heartland.

The Autonomous Heartland Comes to Wisconsin

Sunday, September 6, 2026 | Green Bay, Wisconsin

In partnership with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, Sagamore and the Midwest Defense Accelerator (MDX) hosted a gathering to discuss and promote the Indiana-Wisconsin defense tech corridor. Participants convened at TitleTownTech ahead of the Shamrock Series game between Notre Dame and Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, where they helped forge a roadmap for growing the Midwest industrial base and autonomous technologies across the Great Lakes

  • Dave Temeles and Jim Abercrombie previewed the Midwest Defense Accelerator (MDX) and how leaders across the Great Lakes region can help build an “Area 52” for autonomous development, testing, and manufacturing. 
  • Former U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan highlighted the critical nature of the Heartland’s manufacturing ecosystem to reshoring critical U.S. industries and applauded recent investments in skilled labor industries, such as shipbuilding.
Event Photos

Before Curly Lambeau founded the Green Bay Packers, he played football at Notre Dame for legendary coach Knute Rockne. On Labor Day weekend 2026, those storylines will converge as Notre Dame plays the Wisconsin Badgers at Lambeau Field.

In tandem with the game, Sagamore will partner with those two schools to help their two states win a different kind of contest: the race to build America’s autonomous defense industrial base.

Sagamore has advocated for the defense tech corridor running from Indiana’s NSWC Crane to NE Wisconsin’s shipyards.  Purdue, UW Madison, and Notre Dame are force multipliers to this mission, along with private sector innovations such as TitletownTech and the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Center in Milwaukee.  This event will promote these assets and chart a roadmap for Midwest Industrial Base growth in Wisconsin, Indiana, and across the Great Lakes.

LEARN MORE
Two Legacies. One Field.

From the Wright Brothers to Autonomous

Midwest Defense Summit | July 10-11 | Dayton, Ohio

  • The Midwest has the manufacturing base, research institutions, and testing infrastructure to lead the next era of America’s defense industrial capacity — from air and sea to land and munitions. The path forward is as much about industry and people as technology: bigger workforces, more tooling, more capacity, and faster acquisition timelines are just as critical as new platforms.

  • Autonomy is reshaping every domain, and the region is positioning itself as the focal point for developing, testing, and scaling unmanned systems in the air, on the water, and on the ground

  1. The Midwest is making its case as America’s defense industrial heartland. Across air, sea, land, and munitions, speakers argued the region has the manufacturing base, research institutions, and testing infrastructure to lead the next era of U.S. defense capacity — but only if it gets more workforce, tooling, and faster acquisition timelines, not just new platforms.

    2. Autonomy is the connective thread across every domain. From drone test beds and uncrewed maritime vessels designed “from the ground up” to drone-saturated battlefields in Ukraine, the summit’s throughline was that unmanned systems are reshaping how the U.S. builds and fights — and the Midwest wants to be where that gets developed, tested, and scaled.

    3. Washington is paying attention. As the Pentagon’s Michael Cadenazzi told the crowd, the U.S. defense industrial base is “decades behind” after post-Cold War “just-in-time” assumptions, and Sagamore’s own defense lead is leaving to work on shipbuilding policy full-time in D.C. — signs the region’s pitch is landing with actual policymakers, not just industry insiders.

Highlights

America’s New Primes

Midwest Defense Forum | October 2025 | Green Bay, Wisconsin @ TitletownTech

Palantir and Anduril are considered to be the “New Primes” in the defense industry, leading the way in tech-enabled solutions to defend the West. Leaders from those companies—Palantir Head of Defense and former Congressman Mike Gallagher and Anduril Co-Founder Trae Stephens—used the Bengals at Packers game to joust over their hometown team’s superiority while fiercely agreeing that the Midwest is essential to improve America’s defense industrial base at the second annual Midwest Defense Forum. ​

  1. MDF brought together a cross-section of national security and industry leaders, where their differing specialties and viewpoints coalesced around the necessity of defense innovations rooted in the Heartland.
  2. Our partners at TitletownTech hosted a pitch showcase of their defense-related portfolio companies, highlighting how advances in battery manufacturing and AI-assisted image recognition, among others, provide dual-use capabilities for national defense and domestic economies.
  3. Before the game at Lambeau, Palantir’s Mike Gallagher sat down for a conversation with Anduril’s Trae Stephens, where the two discussed how Anduril has flipped the script on traditional defense manufacturing with a focus on integrated software development and off-the-shelf production, as well as the company’s big investment in Midwest Defense in Trae’s home state of Ohio with its Arsenal-1 facility.
Photos
Gameday Playbook

Introducing America’s Fourth Coast

Midwest Defense Summit | Dearborn, Michigan | Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation

The 2025 Sagamore Midwest Defense Summit brought together leaders to address the urgent need for a stronger maritime posture and a more resilient defense manufacturing sector. The discussion highlighted the Midwest’s pivotal role in producing next-generation naval capabilities, strengthening supply chains, and advancing defense innovation.

  1. Leading shipbuilders and unmanned maritime innovators showcased why the Midwest’s Fourth Coast—with its high-capacity shipyards and historic industrial expertise—is poised to develop the next generation of naval assets. 
  2. U.S. Representatives Jack Bergman (Michigan) and Marcy Kaptur spoke about the value of practical, bipartisan support for Midwest Defense, which not only advances U.S. national security but boosts local economies and workforces.
  3. Anduril’s Christian Brose and Palantir’s Mike Gallagher discussed how the “New Primes” are not just developing flashy technology but making serious investments in reindustrialization, where the Midwest is playing a leading role in rebuilding America’s economic resilience. 
Summit Highlights

Renewing America's Maritime Industry

A conversation with Sen. Todd Young | Speedway, Indiana | August 2025

In August 2025, Sagamore hosted a discussion with Indiana Senator and Naval Academy graduate Todd Young on America’s shipbuilding industry and the industries, technologies, and ideas needed for naval deterrence and global stability. Building on policies laid out in the bipartisan SHIPS for America Act, Sen. Young made the case for a shipbuilding renaissance that increases American competitiveness at sea and promotes domestic maritime production, particularly in the Midwest and Great Lakes Region. 

  1. Moderating the conversation was Sagamore Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Jerry Hendrix, who is currently on detail to the White House and leading the charge from Washington on a renewed maritime industry. 
  2. Sen. Young highlighted how the Hoosier state stands to lead and benefit from this maritime renewal, such as the historic Corn Island shipyard along the Ohio River, and the essential role of Indiana’s steel industry.  
  3. We convened at Dallara’s facility just blocks away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the IndyCar manufacturer is leveraging its high-speed safety expertise to also design seats for the U.S. space program. 
Program
Photos

A War Game and Building the Future of Defense

November 2024 | Green Bay, Wisconsin @ TitleTownTech

The inaugural Midwest Defense Forum at TitletownTech brought together senior leaders from the Pentagon, investors and entrepreneurs building AI and other tech-enabled defense solutions across the Lake Michigan region. TitletownTech hosted this event across from Lambeau Field, where the Packers-Lions played the same weekend.

Gameday Program
Summit Highlights

Bridging the Pentagon to the Midwest Arsenals of Democracy

Midwest Defense Summit | University of Notre Dame

Hosted at the University of Notre Dame, the inaugural Sagamore Midwest Defense Summit brings together policymakers, senior military leaders, researchers, industry executives, and technology innovators to address emerging national security challenges. The summit highlights the strategic importance of Midwest companies and institutions in advancing global security and driving innovation.

  1. We kicked off our first Midwest Defense Summit in Sagamore’s home state of Indiana, where industry executives, academia, and policymakers demonstrated the value and potential of rallying around the banner of Midwest Defense. 
  2. FDD’s Mark Montgomery and Elbridge Colby of the Marathon Initiative—currently serving as the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy—engaged in a dynamic yet grounded discussion on how America should prioritize its defense resources and the strategic role of U.S. allies.
  3. Attendance by three current and former Indiana senators—Dan Coats, Joe Donnelly, and Todd Young—exemplified the Hoosier State’s bipartisan leadership on U.S. national security and defense. 
Summit Highlights

Midwest defense tech @ Rally

August 27 - 28, 2024

RALLY is one of the nation’s largest cross-sector innovation conference in the world including a $5 million pitch competition. This year’s event featured a panel organized by the Midwest Defense Forum and moderated by Lisa Hershman, former Pentagon budget official and chair of Purdue University’s Applied Research Institute.

  1. We kicked off our first Midwest Defense Summit in Sagamore’s home state of Indiana, where industry executives, academia, and policymakers demonstrated the value and potential of rallying around the banner of Midwest Defense. 
  2. FDD’s Mark Montgomery and Elbridge Colby of the Marathon Initiative—currently serving as the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy—engaged in a dynamic yet grounded discussion on how America should prioritize its defense resources and the strategic role of U.S. allies.
  3. Attendance by three current and former Indiana senators—Dan Coats, Joe Donnelly, and Todd Young—exemplified the Hoosier State’s bipartisan leadership on U.S. national security and defense. 
Panel Recording
Abou RALLY

Can Indiana Help Keep America Safe?

2022 Indiana Conference on Citizenship

Related Content

Reagan and the Midwest

Read More