Connecticut companies are having a record year for Department of Defense contracts, including the $17.6 billion Virginia-class submarine contract awarded to Electric Boat in April, but the DOD will likely spend less money in Connecticut than last year because of the military drawdown in Afghanistan and federal budget cuts.

Defense spending in Connecticut is projected to level out from now until 2018, whereas it is expected to decline in other defense contracting states, according to the state’s Office of Military Affairs’ 2013 annual report.

“It is because we are building the right thing,” said Bob Ross. “If we had a firm that was making tracked vehicles and tanks, that firm would be in big trouble because the nation isn’t looking for another ground war right now.”

The Defense Department’s National Security Strategy “calls for the things we build in Connecticut,” Ross said. Besides the key role of submarines, the state also manufactures the Joint Strike Fighter, helicopters and unmanned vehicles, he noted.

— Johanna Somers