Washington Defense Week

NADIC Admin
6 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 13 hours ago

This year's Washington Defense Week featured a full slate of conferences, B2B/B2G meetings, & networking opportunities, and made clear the strong & dynamic state of the Norwegian-American defense industry.

Keep reading for an in-depth recap of Washington Defense Week 2026:

Thursday, April 16

LINC Day & B2B/B2G Meeting Series

Washington Defense Week kicked off with the LINC Day, bringing together NADIC members, Team Norway partners, and our 2025-26 LINC cohort for a full day of presentations, meetings, and networking at the House of NADIC.

Presentations by FFI, Holtan + Partners, Neramco, Northrop Grumman, Holland + Knight, and MIT spanned several topics, ranging from working with U.S. defense primes to geopolitical and market dynamics.

These organizations provided our attendees with valuable guidance on navigating the U.S. defense landscape.

During the afternoon session, participants engaged in B2B & B2G meetings with fellow participants and a Norwegian Ministry of Defence delegation, creating opportunities for business development and strategic alignment in the defense sector.

NADIC Annual Meeting of Members

When the afternoon meeting series concluded, we convened the Annual Meeting of Members, a dedicated session focused on organizational updates and continued engagement within the network.

The meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on ongoing initiatives and continuing to define NADIC's role in supporting members and their transition into the U.S. defense space.

Norwegian Embassy NADIC Conference Reception

In the evening, the Royal Norwegian Embassy hosted leaders from the Norwegian & American defense industries & militaries for the annual Washington Defense Week reception. The reception underscored the importance of close collaboration between Norway, the U.S. and allied countries.

Thursday, April 16

12th Annual Norwegian-American Defense Conference

At the 12th Annual Norwegian-American Defense Conference, a packed house listened to keynotes & panel discussions from high-level Norwegian & U.S. military and defense industry leaders on the theme of From Seabed to Space - Allied Defense Cooperation Across Domains.

Conference speakers discussed how Norway and the U.S. can turn allied trust into operation advantage across the full spectrum of modern warfare, with an emphasis on multi-domain cooperation and scalable capability delivery.

You can find here the full list of speakers & participating organizations

During the conference, a special tribute was also paid to NADIC's outgoing President Chloé Friberg for her unwavering dedication to the growth of NADIC & enduring support of the Norwegian-American defense community.

Thank you to all of our sponsors & partners for making the event possible:

Mark your calendars for next year's NADIC conference: Thursday, April 8, 2027 at Hilton Arlington Rosslyn The Key!

Monday, April 20 - Wednesday, April 22

Sea Air Space

The final event of Washington Defense Week was the Sea Air Space Exposition, hosted at the Gaylord National Convention Center and powered by the Navy League of the United States. During the three-day event, leaders around the world were brought together to host discussions and conduct meetings with stakeholders from both industry and military.

Throughout Sea Air Space, the NADIC lounge served as a central hub for engagement, enabling members to conduct meetings and engage in conversations around industry objectives.

NADIC Lounge Participants Included:

Avinxt | Havguard | IMS/TeamTec | Nammo | Proxflyer

Monday, April 20

Team Norway Reception

To wrap up Sea Air Space Day 1, we hosted our annual Team Norway waterfront reception for a large crowd of attendees from the maritime & defense communities.

Thank you to Innovation Norway for sponsoring the successful event!

Tuesday, April 21

Nordic Innovation Forum at the Finnish Embassy

After Sea Air Space Day 2, many members of our network attended a Nordic Innovation Forum on "Emerging Trends in Drone Warfare".

The event was co-hosted by our partner organization NorCham DC, with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and the Embassies of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The industry panel discussion featured NADIC members Kongsberg Defense U.S. and Squarehead Technology.