Connecticut’s defense industry remains healthy, a trend that is expected to continue, according to the annual report by the state’s Office of Military Affairs.

“What we’ve seen over the years has been a very consistent trend in Connecticut, because we’re building the right things at the right time, we’re seeing high demand in the national security strategy, even as we’re drawing down from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bob Ross, the office’s executive director, told the Day.

The state’s major defense contractors — Electric Boat, Sikorsky, and Pratt and Whitney — have prospered, but so have the second- and third-tier suppliers throughout the state, according to the report.

Connecticut ranks fourth nationally in terms of direct defense purchases from procurement and weapons development, at $13.2 billion. The state’s ranking falls to ninth, at $16.3 billion, when pay is included in direct defense expenditures.

“Because Connecticut produces weapons systems vital to our national security, has a highly skilled and experienced defense workforce, and many hundreds of reliable suppliers, it is one of the country’s most productive states in providing critical goods and services for [DOD]. … This will continue to be the case through 2020, and very probably, far beyond,” the report states.