By Mike Harris Wednesday, April 16th, 2025

Ventura County defense industry stakeholders came together at an April 15-16 summit aimed at bridging private industry and government for growth and collaboration.

The annual Strategic Alliance forum is an opportunity to showcase the strength and innovation of the region’s defense industry, including its biggest player, Naval Base Ventura County, organizer Scott Koslow told the Business Times.

Held this year at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, the summit highlights local business capabilities and fosters new partnerships, he said.

“Our goal is to work with all the economic drivers within the Ventura County defense ecosystem to help bring awareness to the opportunity to work with our government in these important times of global uncertainties,” Koslow, president of the nonprofit that put on the event, the Ventura Defense Industry Forum, said.

Koslow is also president/CEO of Camarillo-based Synectic Solutions, missile experts for the Navy, where he spent 20 years.

With the defense sector playing such a critical role in the regional economy, the forum aims each year to generate meaningful dialogue, create jobs, and bring valuable visibility to Ventura County-based companies, he said.

The event’s April 15 agenda featured a panel discussion on military unmanned systems, including drones, ground vehicles and boats.

One of the panelists, Rear Admiral Keith Hash, told the Business Times that unnamed systems are crucial to the military’s mission.

“It’s critical to bring unmanned vehicles to the fight be it something you throw from your hand to weapons we fire to more usable, returnable unmanned vehicles,” he said.

Hash said the military is perhaps in the early stages of what “you see in science fiction of huge autonomous unmanned vehicles that do the entire mission by themselves.”

But it’s not in the early stages of unmanned integration, something the military has been doing for a long time, he said.

“We’re just maturing in our unmanned integration as to what we do in combat operations,” the admiral said.

Naval Base Ventura County on April 14 alerted county residents that they may notice increased activity of small unmanned boats in and around Ventura and Channel Islands harbors through August.

Authorized personnel will control the unmanned vessels remotely as they depart from and return to the base and the harbors, Navy officials said in a press release.

“The Navy has taken precautions to minimize disruptions to recreational activities, wildlife, and commercial traffic,” the officials said.

There will be no use of ammunition, underwater sound devices or nets, and no increase in noise is expected, according to the release.

“The Navy will continue to work closely with the Coast Guard, Port Authority and local government to ensure that the safety and security of the community remains a top priority,” officials said.

Exhibitors at the summit attended for more visibility and networking.

“We started a motorcycle business – motorcycle parts – and we just want to diversify and we like defense,” said Paul Platts, director of product and business development for Camarillo-based Jims Machining, a CNC machine shop engineering company.

Dave Randolph of Ventura-based Vsolvit, a defense contractor that provides IT services, engineering, and administrative support primarily for the Navy, said the company was at the summit to look for potential partners.

“Finding other small businesses that have capabilities that our customers can use,” he said.

Randolph said Vsolvit, which has a large presence at the base’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, also provides services to the Air Force, the Army, and the departments of Homeland Security, treasury, and education.

Other exhibitors included Synectic Solutions, PDAC Systems, an automation control solutions company headquartered in National City and Palo Alto-based Mattermost, a software firm that serves defense contractors.

President Donald Trump on April 9 signed an executive order to revive U.S. shipbuilding to counter China’s production levels and growing maritime dominance.

Hash said that while he deals more with Navy aviation than ships, “I know that ships are super important to our Navy and our leaders are setting some targets for the numbers that we need to be able to fight in the future.”

Navy leaders are calling for a 381-ship fleet.

“And I think that’s what the president is looking at,” Hash said.

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