Today, AUVSI hosted Day Three of the 2021 Unmanned Systems Defense (USD) Conference with a focus on technologies and systems within the ground domain. During the keynote address and panel discussion, attendees learned about key capabilities DOD will seek out in new systems and heard from private sector stakeholders about how emerging technologies can meet needs in both the commercial market and the defense and military ecosystem. 

MG Ross Coffman, Director, Next Generation Combat Vehicle - Cross Functional Team, expressed his appreciation in his keynote address for the way the unmanned industry collaborates and learns from each other. He urged the industry to work together to solve cross-functional challenges: “Together, we can solve really complex problems.” 

With DOD increasingly integrating unmanned systems, industry can meet DOD’s growing needs by working together to develop technology that is highly flexible. Coffman emphasized the need for technology to be payload-agnostic, offer consistent user and data interfaces across devices, and support commonalities across domains and service branches. 

During the industry panel, experts discussed how development of any autonomous technology drives innovation throughout the industry, including in defense contexts. The commercial industry is constantly making incremental advancements in developing, testing, and validating emerging technologies – and when the technology evolves and is integrated in a variety of use cases to meet specific performance needs, autonomous capabilities take huge leaps forward. 

AUVSI is dedicated to reimagining the way DOD and industry work together on program design, acquisition, and delivery. Through its advocacy committees, AUVSI will continue to foster opportunities for the private sector to learn from defense agencies about pressures facing the military, and we will continue to support government-industry collaboration that maintains U.S. military competitiveness and supports technological advancements in the unmanned industry. 

While today’s sessions conclude USD Phase I, AUVSI will host USD Phase II in July and Phase III in October. Register today to hear from military officials across all branches, defense program personnel, and industry leaders on the acquisition and integration of unmanned systems.