Since the end of World War II, the United States has achieved force overmatch by deploying a range of very large, highly complex and extremely expensive assets that ranged from fighter jets and aircraft carriers to satellites and submarines.

Today, this overmatch is no longer absolute, thanks to the rise of peer and near-peer adversaries. If the United States is to continue to dominate the battle space, the military must think creatively about new ways of achieving overmatch, reducing its reliance on large, expensive and vulnerable military assets, and prioritizing resiliency, flexibility and interoperability.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2022

A one-hour industry panel event featuring four top U.S. defense experts presenting their unique perspectives and insider insights on this timely and consequential topic.

The panelists highlight the multiple, interdependent components of interoperability necessary to achieve tactical, operational and strategic military objectives in the battlespaces of today and tomorrow.
 
Event Panelists: General William S. Wallace (U.S. Army Retired), Jeremiah "J.J" Gertler, FRAes (Sr. Analyst, The Teal Group), Honorable James "Hondo" Geurts (Former Dept. of the U.S. Navy and Special Operations Command Acquisition Executive) and Roger Hill (Principal Deloitte)

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The future of multi-domain operation will, in part, be written by unmanned systems operating at the tactical edge, either individually or as part of a swarm, with interoperability for both manned-unmanned and unmanned-unmanned teaming operations. Because they’re concepts of operation and not programs, multi-domain operations and Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) have been viewed as all things to all people and expected to solve all problems. Viewed that way, they’re more akin to the Collatz Conjecture — a

supposedly simple math problem that nobody can solve — than to a normal DoD procurement program.

The U.S. is providing 100 Switchblade loitering munitions to Ukraine, the Biden administration revealed Wednesday, in addition to the thousands of Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missile already in country or on the way. The Switchblade, sometimes described as a kamikaze drone, has received much less publicity that its two stablemates, but is no less lethal.

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As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged members of Congress for more help against Russia on Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine.

Under the new massive military aid package, Ukraine will be provided with long-range missiles and 100 "tactical unmanned aerial systems," as Biden called them. More precisely, these are Switchblade armed drones.

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As the Pentagon moves resources to address the new era of strategic competition, uncrewed systems – in the air, in the sea, and on land – will be the tip of the sword for our sailors, marines, soldiers and airmen. This era is evolving to one that is multi-domain, features rising peer and near-peer adversaries, and is driven by industry innovation.

For the U.S. to maintain its security advantage in a multi-domain battlespace where force overmatch is no longer an absolute, a strategic shift needs to take place from a reliance on large and expensive traditional military assets to a distributed warfare and force structure.

Wahid Nawabi, President, Chairman and CEO of AeroVironment, a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, spoke with AUVSI about how a transition to distributed warfare, supported by unmanned systems, will maintain U.S. competitiveness this new era.

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"Ingenuity" helicopter far exceeding expectations; Chopper has now flown nearly four times more missions on Mars than originally planned. It's a tiny, experimental unmanned helicopter built in Ventura County that made headlines around the world, as it made the first powered flight in the atmosphere of another planet. While the headlines are gone, Ingenuity is still flying, long past its projected timeline.

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• Portable, rugged Puma 3 All Environment (AE) unmanned aircraft system provides immediate tactical reconnaissance capabilities for land and maritime operations
• Foreign Military Sales program promotes interoperability among U.S. and allied forces for joint operations

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 15, 2022 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced it received a $8,541,428 firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract award on Jan. 27, 2022 to provide Puma™ 3 AE small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), initial spares packages, training and support to an allied nation. Delivery is anticipated by November 2022.

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• Puma LE (Long Endurance) provides Group 2 capabilities in a Group 1 footprint and features up to 6.5 hours of flight endurance for an extended time on station – all in a two-case mission packout
• Customer joins growing number of allied government forces fielding AeroVironment’s advanced, battle-proven small unmanned aircraft systems
• Foreign Military Sales program promotes interoperability among U.S. and allied forces for joint operations

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 9, 2022 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced it received a $10,534,348 firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract award on Jan. 21, 2022. The contract includes the delivery of Puma™ LE small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) over a six-year period to an allied nation, as well as add-on air vehicle kits, initial spares packages, training and support.

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The future of warfare and the Defense Department’s latest concept of operations—specifically all-domain operations and distributed operations—will be written by unmanned systems operating at the tactical edge, either individually or as part of a swarm, with interoperability for both manned-unmanned and unmanned-unmanned teaming operations.

In this interview with Wahid Nawabi, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AeroVironment, we discuss how expensive military assets can be replaced and augmented with more affordable and attritable unmanned systems enabled by the meshing of autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning and edge computing.