Defense Companies Scramble to Make Virtual Internships Work

Defense Companies Scramble to Make Virtual Internships Work

While many U.S. firms are cancelling internships this pandemic-stricken summer, large aerospace and defense companies are scrambling to make sure their temporary hires can still show up, if only virtually.


The industry has long relied on internships to help build its hyperspecialized workforce. Most interns who successfully complete their short stint at a company are offered a full-time job. And this year — even as one in five Americans goes unemployed — defense companies are hunting for qualified workers to fill thousands of job openings and fulfill Pentagon orders for a new generation of missiles, spacecraft and warplanes.


“Our interns are absolutely the fuel for an engineering organization, long-term,” Lisa Finneran, General Dynamics Mission Systems vice president of engineering, said. “If we don't invest in our college grads, I get very concerned, obviously about our future potential as a company.”


Throughout the defense sector, many engineering interns find themselves working on high-profile military projects, writing software or taking part in experiments.


“The work that we carve out for our interns is purposeful; it's project-related,” said Peter Brooks, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of talent acquisition. “Some of our interns, especially those returning, have gotten their clearance as part of the process and so they're able to work on some of the really more interesting things that we do.”


Northrop Grumman has about 3,000 interns joining its ranks this summer. Lockheed Martin has 2,600; Boeing, 1,450; L3Harris Technologies, 750; and General Dynamics Mission Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, about 230. 


Most of these interns, especially the engineering ones, will eventually become full-time employees. At General Dynamics Mission Systems, for example, about 60 p ..

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