Speakers:

• Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-3rd)
• Gary Tuttle, President, AUVSI Pathfinder Chapter

Deputy Program Executive Officer, Program Executive Office, Aviation, U.S. Army

Brig. Gen. Robert S. Spalding III assumed the duties of Special Assistant to the U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff in February 2018.

Unmanned Systems are increasingly being integrated into Emergency Operations. This panel is comprised of emergency management and public safety leaders who are employing unmanned systems today. This is an opportunity to discuss with these officials the advantages they see in deploying unmanned systems as well as required improvements. The panel will consist of two Police Chiefs, senior FEMA official, and a representative and the Director of UAS programs at UAH and FAA Assure Core University. Listen to these professionals discuss their deployments of these systems and their effectiveness in the field.

This panel will use actual video from operations and show the participants how they deployed UAS in emergency situations and shared information between agencies. The panel will share the lessons learned as they review the actual video with the audience.

Speakers:

• Chad Tillman, Huntsville-Madison County EMA
• James Cox, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Jerry Hendrix, UAS Director, University of Alabama, Huntsville
• Mark McMurray, Chief of Police, Huntsville Police Department

This panel will discuss how to deal with UAS Encroachment to Airport Operations. The panel will discuss the need for facilities and resources to test new technologies for UAS detection and mitigation of threats to Airport Operations.

Speakers:

• Jerry Hendrix, UAS Director, University of Alabama, Huntsville
• Casey Calamaio, Civil Air Patrol Leader, University of Alabama, Huntsville
• Kevin Vandeberg, Director of Operations, Huntsville Madison County Airport Authority (HMCAA)
• Brad Pasho, CRAM PM, QuantiTech, Inc
• Dr. Max Klein, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, SCI Technology, Inc.
• Brian Wohlschlaeger, TStorm Program Manager, COLSA Corp

FEMA frequently contract with UAS operators to conduct operations for search and rescue, damage assessment, and even assist in security operations. These agencies require training metrics to set standards for contracted operators. Current programs like Trusted Operator Program (TOPS), NFPA 2400, and others are attempting to develop these standards. FEMA and NIST representatives will discuss their pursuits of both a standardized training course and a proficiency test.

Speakers:

• Travis Potter, Director, Region 4, FEMA
• Casey Calamaio, Civil Air Patrol Leader, University of Alabama, Huntsville
• Adam Jacoff, Emergency Response Robots Project, NIST

The Deputy PEO U&W will moderate a panel of experts who will discuss their vision of the future of Group 2 and 3 unmanned aircraft for the Navy and Marines. The NAWCAD Airwork’s recently unveiled a challenge to industry to show-up for flight demonstrations in November 2020 systems that don’t require launch and recovery systems. Southcom has been testing out similar expeditionary systems for its Counter-Narcotics Operations. The Marine Corps Warfighting Labs have been conducting a number of experiments with expeditionary VTOL systems. We hope this panel will shed some light on the requirements trade space for endurance and payload capability and any requirements for future developments in this unmanned expeditionary space.

Speakers:

• Pat Buckley, Deputy PEO U&W
• Ted Venable, USNAVSO/USFOURTHFLT
• Bill Macchione, Navair
• Brian Holm-Hansen, Ph.D., Office of Naval Research
• Major Steve Morris, MCWL

The FAA is frequently able to provide relief for operations under COA. Discussion will include K-State’s recent nationwide BVLOS exemption, flights over people exemptions, night operations and moving vehicle operations.

Speakers:

• JC Coffey, NOAA/Cherokee Nation
• Jerry Hendrix, Director of UAS, University of Alabama, Huntsville
• Mark Blanks, Director, Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, Virginia Tech
• Kurt Barnhart, Kansas State University
• Christopher Duling, Principle Research Engineer, UAH Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center

Speakers:

• Congressman Mo Brooks, AL-5th, House Armed Servces Committee
• Gary Tuttle, President, AUVSI Pathfinder Chapter

PM UAS has recently reorganized and established the PM Soldier Product Office. This office is focused on Group 1 and 2 systems whose requirements are now managed out of the Maneuver Center of Excellence Fort Benning, Ga. The systems managed out of this office include: the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) project, a quadcopter employed at the squad level. The Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) system currently being filled by the RQ-11 Raven program. The Long-Range Reconnaissance System (LRRS) which is an anticipated development program that will provide around 2 hours plus endurance with a 5-pound payload. This office also manages the TOGA ground Station. The panel will discuss the status of the SRR project, the status of the planned LRR OTA, and the recently awarded TOGA project.

Speakers:

• Ted Macuiba, Director MCoE (Moderator)
• Dr. Carlos Correia, SUAS PD
• Andy Ruddick, SRR APM
• Stephen Hutson, Tech Chief
• MAJ Chris Sanders, Robotics Requirements

The ALE programmed is expected to enhance the army’s ability to conduct multi-domain operations by using autonomous air vehicles as a wider part of the FARA “eco-system”. This rapidly moving program is being procured through the OTA process and has already flight tested existing mature candidate systems. Expected to penetrate enemy air-defense systems, air vehicles must be capable of creating “chaos in enemy decision spaces” to enable freedom of movement for friendly forces across a battlespace. Air vehicle mission sets have been divided by the CFT into detect, identify, locate, and report (DLIR); disrupt; decoy; and lethal categories. Mission sets will be enabled by a series of active and passive payloads that could “stimulate” and confuse enemy air-defense systems, service officials added.

Speakers:

• Jeff McCoy, PM C2E, PEO Aviation PM UAS (Moderator)
• Otis Airhart, APM ALE, PEO Aviation PM UAS
• CW5 Dustin Engelhardt, AV Platforms RDD ALE, Fort Rucker Futures CDID
• Mike Suckow, Futures CCDC, Futures Command
• LTC Anthony Freude, FARA/ALE Integration Lead

Autonomy is the ideal state for unmanned systems, most unmanned systems are just remotely piloted. Many areas of our commercial market are making great leaps in autonomy and sensors. This panel will explore where we are at with autonomy in the commercial market.

Speakers:

• Brigadier General Dale White, PM Fighters and Advanced Aircraft, U.S. Air Force
• Jeff DeCoux, Chairman, The Autonomy Group
• Jayashree Moorthy, CCDC A Team
• Justin Gogel, Office of Naval Research
• Dr. John Brill, AFRL

With MGTOW greater than 1320 pounds and flying sometimes at altitudes over 10,000 feet AGL. The class 4&5 aircraft are attempting to adapt their capabilities to Multi Domain Operations. These large aircraft are exploring autonomous operations. The multi-service panel will discuss the Navy’s Stingray program as well as the Airforce Skyborg Program, and the Army’s future beyond Gray Eagle ER.

Speakers:

• COL Welch, ACM Attack/Recon (Moderator)
• LTC Roder, 160th SIMO
• LTC Benjamin, PM UAS PdM Gray Eagle
• Ted Girouard, Dep ACM Intel Sensors

Mr. Stapleton leads the Trusted Capital, Global Markets and Investment. This office provides education about regulations in place to counter adversarial capital and offers an overview of tools available to industry to protect themselves. The Department of the Treasury issued over 300 pages of proposed regulations to implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”). This legislation is the first in over a decade to expand the scope of inbound foreign investment subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), and the final regulations will become effective no later than February 13, 2020.

Speaker:

• Dave Stapleton, Adversaries and Opportunities, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency

The FTUAS was an innovative acquisition method and yielded 4 mature VTOL systems that could perform an expeditionary mission. These four systems are well into their flight demonstration program which will conclude by the end of this calendar year. This panel will discuss the status of the demonstration program and the lessons learned. The panel will also discuss the desired capabilities that may be required after the demonstration program.

Speakers:

• Orlando Olivas, AFC Modernization (Moderator)
• MAJ John Holcomb, FTUAS APM
• MAJ Nikes, AV Platforms RDD
• Casey Still, TUAS Chief Engineer

Speakers:

• Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-5th), House Appropriations Committee
• Gary Tuttle, President, AUVSI Pathfinder Chapter

The Deputy Director of Robotics Requirements for the Maneuver Center of Excellence is Ted Maciuba. Ted will take the audience through the Robotics Requirements for the Maneuver CDID. The CDID Integrates Robotics capabilities in support of Army formations to ensure success on the battlefield. They develop and manage Robotics capabilities - to include Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and exoskeletons in support BCT as Cross Functional Teams for Next Generation Combat Vehicle and Soldier Lethality.

• Ted Maciuba, Deputy Director Robotics, MCoE (Moderator)
• Robert Sadowski, Chief Roboticist, CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems
• Mark Mazzara, Systems Engineering & Architecture Lead for Project Manager (PM) Force Projection (FP), US Army Program Executive Office, Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS)

SOCOM has reorganized moving Group 1-3 to the PEO Surveillance Reconnaissance (SR). The PEO SR will discuss the new organization and the road map for the future.

Speakers:

• David Breede, PEO SR, SOCOM

In the future warfighters will be required to control both ground and air unmanned systems. Unmanned systems offer valuable capabilities but can require heavy interaction from soldiers. As autonomy of unmanned systems increases the interactions will increasingly be for situational awareness updates controlling the platform and sensors. The soldiers control interface for universal controllers will be increasingly critical for the efficiency of soldiers that require intuitive and consistent interfaces. These interfaces will also have to be independent of the type, size of display, or computing platform. Our panel will discuss initiatives that are underway to provide the warfighter software and hardware tools that meet these requirements. Several air and ground efforts will be discussed including SCI and Universal robotics Interface.

Speakers:

• Jeff McCoy, PdM C2E PM UAS (Moderator)
• MAJ Nikes, APR ADD
• LTC Rob Brown, Robotic Requirements Military Deputy
• Tim Gerhart, PMUAS DPL C2E
• Adam Hinsdale, Leidos

The industry will discuss their experiences with the FTUAS acquisition and Try, Fly, and Inform experience.

Speakers:

• Ed Wolski, Vice President, L3Harris (Moderator)
• Phil Mahil, Arcturus
• Peter Blocker, Director, Tactical UAS, L3Harris
• Heath Niemi, Martin UAV
• David Philips, Senior Vice President, Textron