AUSA 2021 News and Views

In this episode of The Weekly Defence Podcast we bring you highlights from the floor of AUSA 2021 in Washington DC.

Newsround [02:20] 

The Shephard news team unpicks some of the stories from this week, including the impending Swedish procurement of the GlobalEye aircraft; a new milestone in Project Selborne for the UK Royal Navy; and the end of the training process for the Nigerian Air Force A-29 Super Tucano which seals the beginning of new operations using the aircraft.

AUSA news [05:13]

Special guest (and Shephard contributor) David Isby joins the panel to discuss some of the top stories and themes from this year’s AUSA event.

Air domain news [10:00] 

David and Tim Martin take a look at the progress and the challenges ahead for both industry and the DoD under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme which includes two rotorcraft initiatives – FLRAA and FARA.

Digital Battlespace- JADC2 [17:30] 

The Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) programme is developed by the DoD to connect sensors from all US military services into a single network. One of the initiatives to break through silos is Project Convergence. David and Flavia Camargos Pereira discuss a few updates on this matter. 

Training – [25:21] 

The US Army has stalled its Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), putting at risk the future of the ten-year, $22 billion programme. Trevor Nash looks at the reasons for the DoD decision and its potential long-term impact. 

Land [30:13] 

Flavia Camargos Pereira reports on the OMFV programme for the US Army, as some of the contenders showcased their solutions while others were coy.

Interview – Renk Group [36:00] 

After Renk Group acquired the Combat Propulsion Systems (CPS) business of L3Harris in March 2021, the firm has now created a new subsidiary, Renk America, which made its debut at the AUSA 2021. Ben Vogel is on the line with Susanna Wiegand, CEO of Renk Group. 

Industry Voice – EOS [52:23] 

Tony Skinner speaks to Philip Coker, CEO of EOS Defense Systems USA, to find out more about the capabilities of the two recently designed systems and what the company want to achieve by interacting with the community at AUSA 2021.

This episode was produced by Noemi Distefano. Music and mix by Fred Prest.