Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised Oshkosh Corp. as a model for other defense contractors during a visit to Wittman Regional Airfield, noting the company’s military vehicles have saved the lives of soldiers overseas.
“It’s incredible what you’ve accomplished here in Oshkosh,” he said yesterday. “This company has played a role in every major conflict of the last 80 years since World War II, and I’ve seen your incredible work firsthand downrange, and I know that it saves American lives, the lives of American warriors.”
Meanwhile, WisDems Chair Devin Remiker yesterday criticized the tour as a “desperate” attempt to do damage control for “jacking up the cost of living with their wildly unpopular tariffs and endless war-of-choice” in Iran.
The stop near Oshkosh, part of the department’s “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, focused on both the company’s impact as well as the Department of Defense’s new approach to contracting under the current administration.
Hegseth said “we’re a different kind of department, moving at the speed of business,” arguing the administration is cutting red tape and bureaucracy to provide the military with the best American-made hardware.
“Our job is to make it easier for the big guys and the little guys to get in to compete, and ensure that American warriors have the best,” he said, adding “most companies have been in the past too afraid, and rightfully so, of the maze of Pentagon bureaucracy.”
He emphasized Oshkosh Corp.’s role as both a military and commercial manufacturing company, calling it a model for other commercial manufacturers “to step up when your country needs you.”
He added: “We need more Oshkosh across America.”
Hegseth said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act secured $190 million in defense contracts executed in Wisconsin, noting “we intend to do more as we move forward modernizing our forces.”
He also plugged the department’s federal budget request for $16.8 billion to update Army and Marine Corps combat equipment, including “new, futuristic vehicles” such as Oshkosh Defense’s ROGUE-Fires unmanned, autonomous ground vehicle. The U.S. Marine Corps earlier this year awarded the company with a $92 million contract for these vehicles, Hegseth noted.
Remiker, in his response to Hegseth’s remarks, grouped him in with Wisconsin Republicans including GOP guv hopeful U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil, saying they have “now stooped to parading around Hegseth” to sell a failed economic agenda.
“Wisconsinites see through Republicans’ slimy sales pitch and are tired of footing the bill for foreign wars and tariffs that have crushed our businesses, farmers, and manufacturers,” he said.
Watch the video of Hegseth’s remarks, as well as follow-up questions by reporters.
