Sponsored by AOC Europe
https://www.aoceurope.org
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11 Nov 21. At Dubai Air Show, Israeli firms see big business in historic rivals. A warming of relations between Israel and Gulf nations provides a window for eager defense contractors. As top military officials from oil-rich Middle Eastern nations gather at the Dubai Air Show next week, some unexpected high-end sellers will be showing off their wares: major Israeli defense firms. In the wake of the signing of the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, Israeli firms see a lucrative opening in the Gulf arms market. The only thing that’s slowing them down is that the accords are still in a probationary period, and the Israeli government appears to be cautious about selling military wares to its former rivals — potentially later even including Saudi Arabia.
“The special plates prepared in the Israeli kitchen are causing big appetites in some Gulf states, but the distance the waiter has to cross with the plates in his hands is still partially blocked,” one senior defense source told Breaking Defense.
As the US “re-positions” major defense systems and reduces troop numbers throughout the Middle East, it’s leaving an arms vacuum that could be a potentially large market for Israeli firms, according to Israeli sources.
They still, however, face local hurdles as the firms prod the Israeli ministry of defense to hurry their pace of approval, according to senior sources here. The sources, who spoke to Breaking Defense on the condition of anonymity, said the slow pace was not as a result of an effort to appease Washington, despite rumors to the contrary.
The issue has been deliberated in recent weeks in the ministry of defense and at the top management of the defense industry firms. Industry officials have already made contacts in the UAE, Bahrain, and even Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was not party to the Abraham Accords, but has indicated it too is inching closer to working with the Israelis on defense.
But at this stage the Israeli defense ministry has approved only a small portion of the potential deals Israeli defense companies initiated in the Gulf States that have normalized relations with Israel.
Officials with the ministry did not comment for this report, but sources close to the issue told Breaking Defense that the policy is to “move slowly and study any possible implications” of the deals.
Israeli companies have sold defense systems to countries like the UAE and Bahrain even before the Abraham Accords, but those were mainly in the homeland security and cyber categories. Immediately after the accords were signed, the UAE and Bahrain requested to purchase more defense systems.
The Middle East market is massive for defense firms. The US government reported that it approved nearly $2 billion in defense sales to Saudi Arabia in 2020 alone. Just over $1 billion was approved for the UAE, based on federal data.
This year, the Dubai Air Show provides an opening for Israeli firms hoping to get in on the defense action, if and when it’s allowed, and afford them the opportunity to promote non-defense services in the meantime.
Israel’s largest defense contractor, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), plans to present its capabilities in ground and air combat. IAI sources said the company plans to extend its strategic collaboration in the region by signing new cooperation agreements with local companies and broadening existing partnerships signed in the past year, like with an agreement on cargo conversions with the UAE’s Etihad Engineering.
“These agreements opened a window for extensive cooperation and knowledge, for the promotion of investments, for the development and citizenship of common technologies in the security and civilian spheres,” IAI president and CEO Boaz Levy said.
Rafael, another Israeli defense contractor, will show off its military-oriented systems including AI-assisted aerial defenses, but it too will focus on existing regional partnerships like its joint venture with the UAE technology firm G42, which deals in AI and machine learning.
Rafael’s president and CEO, Yoav Har-Even, told Breaking Defense his firm values regional partnerships when it’s in accordance with the interests of the Israeli defense ministry.
“We are going to be highlighting an array of systems to address a number of evolving threats and they will be exhibited at the Dubai Air Show for the first time, which provides an examples of these opportunities taking shape,” he said. “The exhibition will showcase Rafael’s most advanced systems which have been incorporated by many customers and partners worldwide. We are excited by what the future holds.”
The technology firm Elbit systems will be at the show as well, showing off its solutions for multi-domain networked warfare — a current obsession of the Pentagon’s as well — along with various airborne-related systems.
Ran Kril, Elbit’s executive vice president for international marketing, noted that since the Abraham Accords, the Gulf nations are “important new markets” for his firm.
“We believe that our broad portfolio of solutions together with our proven track record of building local industrial and technological activities in a range of countries position us well to address the needs and opportunities in this region,” Krill said.
Other smaller countries will also be at the show, hoping to snatch a piece of the new market pie. But in the end, how much of a pie there is will depend on the Israeli defense ministry.
“We think that at least some of our systems can be immediately approved for export to these countries, but deals will be signed only if the Israeli ministry of defense give us the freedom to offer and negotiate,” one company official said. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
09 Nov 21. LDRA Announces Embedded Safety & Security Summit (ESSS) 2022; Virtual Again to Enable Greater Global Audience. The 7th edition of the premier global conference will be held June 15, 2022, with the theme, “Designing Embedded Systems with Agility, Quality, Safety & Security”
LDRA, in collaboration with industry partners and associations, today announced that the seventh edition of the Embedded Safety & Security Summit (ESSS) 2022 will be held June 15. With the theme “Designing Embedded Systems with Agility, Quality, Safety & Security,” the conference and expo will be virtual for the second year in a row. This will enable even more to be involved in developing, testing and certifying mission-critical embedded systems to learn about the latest technological advancements.
With the ongoing effort to empower the embedded community and reach out to a global audience, ESSS 2022 comes with exclusive technical sessions, an interactive online platform and the right mix of industry peers for networking. The event focuses on four industry tracks: Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, Industrial and Medical.
“Whether in person or virtual, ESSS enables us to continue our efforts to support the safety- and security-critical embedded industry,” said Ian Hennell, Director – Operation, LDRA. “This comprehensive forum educates and informs the community about technological advancements and the need to build quality into future systems.”
ESSS 2022 will include engaging and informative content, including a panel discussion, “Standards Driven Development in an Agile World.” It will also include industry keynote sessions, and technical sessions addressing all genres in the embedded community, ranging from software engineers, decision-makers, certified professionals to representatives from government and regulatory bodies.
According to Shinto Joseph, Director – South East Asia Operation, LDRA, and Convener of ESSS, “ESSS 2022 will gather leaders from across government, technology innovation, business and standard bodies to present the state of the practice and innovations that assist professionals in leveraging intelligent technologies. The panel discussion on standards-driven development in an agile world will be especially valuable, as it specifically ‘addresses the imminent issues faced by many upcoming industries, including EVs, UAVs, IIoTs, autonomous systems, etc.”
For more information on sponsorship opportunities, paper submission and registration for ESSS 2022, visit www.embedded-safety-security.com.
About LDRA
For more than 40 years, LDRA has developed and driven the market for software that automates code analysis and software testing for safety-, mission-, security-, and business-critical markets. Working with clients to achieve early error identification and elimination, and full compliance with industry standards, LDRA traces requirements through static and dynamic analysis to unit testing and verification for a wide variety of hardware and software platforms. Boasting a worldwide presence, LDRA has headquarters in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and India coupled with an extensive distributor network. For more information on the LDRA tool suite, please visit http://www.ldra.com/.
About ESSS®
Focusing on the safety and security aspects of critical embedded systems, the Embedded Safety & Security Summit (ESSS) is an exclusive arena for the whole embedded community to learn, interact and nurture. LDRA drives this successful initiative with support from partners, clients, industrial & professional bodies and government agencies. Learn more at www.embedded-safety-security.com.
08 Nov 21. GLOBAL MILSATCOM Day Two – News AND Recap.
Wednesday 3 November 2021
Day 2 of Global MilSatCom was focused on the US space enterprise and featured a number of key perspectives from around the DOD. This was a fascinating and thought-provoking day, and there was a clear call to action for the DOD to ensure that it remains ahead of its adversaries.
Lt Gen Chance Saltzman, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber, and Nuclear, US Space Force, began the day with a clear vision for USSF SATCOM.
He was followed by two presentations from Space Systems Command: Ms Deanna Ryals, who stressed the importance of international collaboration, and Colonel Ryan Colburn, who laid out the latest views from SSC’s SATCOM
acquisition and development team. This was an inspiring way to start the day, and set the scene for the presentations that followed.
Two industry presentations followed, from Airbus and Thuraya, which offered good insights into their current SATCOM ventures and
collaborations. Sandwiched between these and two more industry presentations from Viasat and SES was Mr Mike Nichols from the COMSATCOM Office. Mike addressed a number of highly relevant areas for this audience and generated a lot of questions from the floor.
After lunch, Major General Miller from USSPACECOM spoke powerfully about the operational need for SATCOM and how USSPACECOM is mobilising to be the global SATCOM bandwidth manager. He was followed by Leonardo DRS who emphasised the need for greater resiliency, before an inspiring panel on innovation and the power of diverse thinking. Delivering critical
messages about the strength of innovative approaches, this was one of the highlights of the day and provided a call to arms for the industry to do more to integrate new and diverse thinking.
Three industry sessions then followed, from Kratos, Hughes, and Telesat. Highly interesting topics these were excellent technical sessions which complimented the other themes throughout the day. Mike
Baxter, Aerospace Corporation supporting the Spectrum Warfare Division at SSC, then gave a more detailed insight into the Fighting SATCOM initiative, before a final industry presentation from Boeing which examined the changing space environment. The day closed with an operational perspective from Colonel Ed Skelly from USCENTCOM. As a key operational SATCOM user, Colonel Skelly provided real-world feedback on
SATCOM performance to the conference delegates, and this session was a great reminder of why we must keep working faster and harder to deliver an assured SATCOM capability.
GLOBAL MILSATCOM Day Three – News AND Recap.
Thursday 4 November 2021
Day 3 was devoted to allied partners and interoperability. Featuring a wide spread of speakers from leading space nations, this day provided a comprehensive picture of global SATCOM programmes and presented a clear message of unity and collaboration.
The day was opened by keynote addresses from Australia and New Zealand. As two of the Five-Eyes partners, their updates were of great interest to the assembled audience and generated a large number of questions. These
were followed by a fascinating panel on multidomain integration, with both industry and government representatives, before two industry
presentations from Virgin Orbit and Ovzon demonstrated their respective technologies looking to disrupt the SATCOM domain.
A NATO ACT update then laid out future NATO SATCOM programmes and illustrated some of the main concepts that will guide NATO SATCOM
acquisition in the future. Two final presentations before the lunch break were delivered by Eutelsat and the Canadian Armed Forces.
The US National Space Defense Center opened the afternoon session with a rare and well-received presentation on the NSDC and its role, priorities and mission. Included were a number of eye opening insights into the threats facing the space assets of NATO and its allies, and it was certainly one of the highlights of the event.
Three CEE presentations then followed from Romania, Hungary, and Belgium. Delivering updates on their SATCOM programmes and visions, a significant takeaway and challenge to industry was the increased emphasis on
affordability for smaller nations. Without the vast budgets of more established space nations, these countries and those like them need capabilities that are flexible, tailored to their specific needs, and interoperable to allow integration with the SATCOM capabilities of allies.
Appropriately, the conference ended with a panel discussion on international architectural convergence. Covering a number of critical topics to interoperability and collaboration, all parties agreed that our partnership agreements require an overhaul to become more flexible and responsive.
05 Nov 21. 2021 AUSA Annual Meeting Highlights And Recap. The 2021 AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition is now in the history books and what an event it was! We were so happy to welcome everyone back to this one-of-a kind event. The AUSA team worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this a safe, rewarding and unique professional development forum. Here are just a few of the many highlights:
- More than 20,000 people attended this event, including key leaders from around the world
- 25.2 m people were exposed to the #AUSA2021 hashtag
- 68 countries represented
- This year’s event included access to world-class education that focused on our theme, America’s Army and its People, Transforming for the Future. The theme reinforced the Chief of Staff of the Army’s priorities of People, Readiness and Modernization.
- Key addresses from senior Army leadership including the Secretary of the Army, Chief of Staff and Sergeant Major of the Army, to name just a few.
EXHIBIT HALL HIGHLIGHTS
Our exhibit halls featured cutting-edge technologies and solutions that support the force of today and tomorrow. There were 650 exhibitors including:
- (7) International Pavilions from Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Korea and Norway
- (3) Small Business Pavilions with more than 50 companies highlighting the latest state-of-the-art-technologies
- The Army Exhibit with daily presentations in the Warrior’s Corner, a series of 40-minute sessions by key leaders that focused on a variety of Modernization and Personnel Initiatives.
- Army Assembly Areas featuring key representatives from ASA(ALT), Futures Command, Army Materiel Command and TRADOC
- A Veterans Affairs Pavilion
- An Innovators Corner organized by the U.S. Army’s xTechSearch Program
- A Veterans Hiring Pavilion organized by the American Freedom Foundation
- And much, much more!
SEE EVERYTHING YOU MISSED HERE
Catch all the news, highlights and everything you missed here!
- AUSA Annual Meeting Headline News: https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/2021-annual-meeting-news/b5svm/599191472?h=lTmLIOIWr8loffYfqwPiDwHHAIkAPqn47eM_14el5i0
- Livestreams and presentations: 2021 AUSA Annual Meeting: Live Streams & Presentations
- Twitter Feed: #AUSA2021
- Photos: 2021 AUSA Annual Meeting Photos
- Defense News Digital Show Daily: AUSA Annual | Defense News
THANK YOU!
AUSA would like to thank all of our exhibitors and sponsors for their tremendous support! Without you, this important event simply would not be possible. Thank you for your continued support of AUSA.
JOIN US IN 2022!
Exhibit space at next year’s event is almost already sold out! Don’t miss out on this world-class event.
2022 AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition
A Professional Development Forum
Washington, DC | October 10-12
Website: https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/annual-2022-index-cfm/b5svy/599191472?h=lTmLIOIWr8loffYfqwPiDwHHAIkAPqn47eM_14el5i0
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AOC Europe
AOC Europe connects organisations and individuals across government, defence, industry, and academia to promote the exchange of ideas and information, and review the latest advances in electromagnetic and information-related fields. With a history spanning more than 25 years, AOC Europe is the Association of Old Crows’ flagship international event with 70+ manufacturers and 1000+ attendees from 40+ countries coming together to engage, innovate and network and to discuss all things within this dedicated sector.
Our 2022 conference theme:
Integrating Electromagnetic Effects across all Domains
The control of the electromagnetic spectrum is a fundamental requirement in modern warfare in all domains whether land, sea air, space, information or cyber. Systems operating in these domains must be able to communicate, make decisions, share information and take actions in a coordinated, controlled and effective manner using the electromagnetic spectrum.
To achieve and maintain this dominance, electronic warfare, radar, navigation, situational awareness and other information and communication systems require significant levels of integration and interoperability across all types of platforms and in all domains. Innovative integrated systems requirements, applications and enabling technologies will be considered from intelligence data gathering, analysis and data fusion through to the deployment of countermeasures and other actions that use the electromagnetic spectrum.
For more details on exhibiting/sponsoring, submitting a paper or attending the event visit www.aoceurope.org
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