Photo By Pam Goodhart | 251206-A-BS696-1070 Kate Williams, Directorate of Strategic Management director,...... read more read more
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. – On Dec. 6, Letterkenny Army Depot leadership hosted Sen. Dave McCormick, Rep. John Joyce and staff members for a mission brief and capabilities tour of one of the maintenance facilities at the installation.
Col. Caleb Lewis, depot commander, and Kate Williams, Directorate of Strategic Management director, led the tour, highlighting various efforts depot personnel are executing to support critical U.S. Army priorities.
“We are dedicated, as we have been since 1942, in ensuring combat readiness around the world,” Lewis said.
Throughout the congressmen’s visit, Lewis and Williams emphasized the importance of the depot’s core mission — sustaining air and missile and precision fire systems to support service members stationed at home and overseas. The depot’s portfolio of assets includes Patriot, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and Hellfire, to name a few. LEAD personnel described the role of the Army’s Organic Industrial Base in national security. The OIB is crucial to repairing and delivering military equipment back to warfighters in an expedited timeline at reduced costs for the federal government, Williams noted.
Fulfilling the mission requires various competences, Lewis and Williams explained during the tour. Notably, advancements in the depot’s forward-deployment capabilities have bolstered the workforce’s ability to support Soldiers in austere environments. Newly adopted technologies, such as mobile additive manufacturing, have addressed certain issues across the Army, including environmentally induced corrosion.
Depot personnel also discussed the significance of collaboration with local, state and national academia. They explained that partnerships with local schools have strengthened LEAD’s capability to find and employ new talent, while working with academics at the Pennsylvania State University’s Applied Research Laboratory, for example, has fostered innovation in materiel sustainment.
Lewis and Williams noted the importance of interservice work agreements between the depot and other branches of the U.S. military. Efforts, such as the work done with the Navy sponson, help LEAD maintain critical skills and competencies, while supporting warfighters outside of the Army.
After the tour of the production facility, Jesse Tressler, installation manager, provided an update on military construction projects throughout the installation, highlighting their value to depot operations and the local community.
“What we saw here today was the tip of the spear in supporting our warfighters,” Joyce remarked. “The traditions with the Patriot system having been here since the 1980s, and the future being right here — the possibilities of those artisans that support our defense systems throughout the United States, we look forward to seeing that development, we know how important that is.”
Closing his visit to Letterkenny, McCormick emphasized the importance of defense reindustrialization in Pennsylvania and its role in national security.
“I am blown away by the magnitude, the diversity of the air and missile mission that you are supporting for the Army,” McCormick stated. “I think your mission is becoming more important, not less, because the world is a more dangerous place, and what’s happening here is just critical to the future of our country.”
| Date Taken: | 12.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.10.2025 15:42 |
| Story ID: | 553764 |
| Location: | CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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