2011 Air & Space Highlights: Expo Floor

The Technology Exposition of AFA's Air & Space is always a great opportunity to keep up to date with the very latest technology.  Last year's Expo boasted 140-plus different exhibits allowing participants to have a “hands-on” look at the cutting edge technology of the future. This year’s Technology Exposition will include exhibitors from around the globe in our 50,000 square feet of space that will showcase the latest in industry.

The Expo floor isn't just an opportunity to see industry innovations, but also a place for professional development as you have the opportunity to mingle with Air Force leadership, industry experts, aerospace enthusiasts and other conference speakers and attendees. The Expo floor will also be the location for the Conference's book signings, raffle, complimentary lunches and receptions.

Highlights include:

·     IBM

The American multinational technology and consulting firm, IBM, will be showcasing its famed artificial intelligence computer system, Watson. Watson is capable of answering questions posed in natural language as it is a workload optimized system designed for complex analytics. The famed computer defeated the top two Jeopardy! champions of all time in February 2011. In the future Watson is expected to apply data management and analytic technology across industry.

·     Finmeccanica North America

AgustaWestland, a helicopter company owned by Finmeccanica, will be showcasing the AW139M – the military version of the multi-role, off-the-shelf AW139 medium-twin helicopter, integrated with proven U.S. military technology for the U.S. Air Force's Common Vertical Lift Support Program. AgustaWestland is a total capability provider in the vertical lift market while Finmeccanica is world leader in aerospace defense and security sectors.

 ·   Boeing

Boeing will be showcasing its New Gen KC-46A tanker, a military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft. In a highly publicized competition, Boeing was awarded the $35 billion deal to build tankers that will replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135 Stratotankers. Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and the leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space, and security systems.

From TENCATE Protective Fabrics  of Georgia, the producers of the flame resistant military combat fabric chosen for use in US Army and Marine Corps combat uniforms, to Rockwell Collins of Iowa, a company that provides superior situational awareness and training solutions, several aspects of aerospace will be visible on our Expo Floor. 

Come see this vast gathering of suppliers, designers, service providers and innovative engineering, representing both small and large industry leaders and aerospace  Check out the digital view of the Expo Floor here. 

 

There is no charge to attend the Technology Exposition of the Air & Space Conference, but registration is required. Complimentary Technology Exposition Only passes are welcome on Monday, September 19 from 1:00PM - 4:00PM and Tuesday, September 20 - Wednesday, September 21 from 10:00AM - 4:00PM. Registration can be found here.

Photo from a 2010 Air & Space  Expo Floor Book Signing with
Leo Thorsness, Col, USAF, Retired, Medal of Honor Recipient

Photo from a 2010 Air & Space  Expo Floor Reception

Photo from the 2010 Air & Space  Expo Floor

CyberPatriot Announces Winners of National Poster Contest

Using the tagline “Have you got what it takes?”, three talented students from Wisconsin, Texas and Colorado showed that they did indeed have what it took, winning the national CyberPatriot IV Poster Contest.

The Air Force Association congratulates Cadet 2^nd Lieutenant Mitchell Lemons of Saukville, Wisconsin; Jeffrey Ding of Frisco, Texas; and Phani Gaddipati of Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

High school students submitted original works with the hope of having their artwork featured in schools throughout the country. The competition challenged participants to visually express their ideas on cyber security. Established by the Air Force Association, CyberPatriot is the nation’s largest cyber defense competition for high school students. The fun, competitive atmosphere gives students hands-on experience in cyber security and technology while emphasizing teamwork and leadership, and exercising critical-thinking skills. 

The STEM initiative launched the poster contest May 27, 2011, requesting high school students, including those from approved home school programs, and Civil Air Patrol cadets of high school age to submit their artwork with a cyber theme. The purpose of the activity was to keep students thinking about the many different roles cyber systems play in their lives.

The three posters will be used as CyberPatriot IV recruitment posters, to be featured in high schools and CAP squadrons across the nation. The themes for the poster contest fell under awareness; cyber security; teamwork; innovation; challenge; excitement and fun -- all themes CyberPatriot strongly encourages throughout its competition season. The winning artworks were based on a criterion that included consistency with the specified themes; creativity, originality and artistic quality; visual appeal; and visual clarity.

2011 Air & Space Highlights: Bing West

Acclaimed author Bing West will be joining AFA this September at the 2011 Air & Space Conference, where he will be signing his latest book, The Wrong War, a crushing critique about the war in Afghanistan that brings readers onto the toughest battlefields to show what war really is. 

“West ... boldly assesses the prospects for U.S. success in Afghanistan in this provocative analysis.” – Publisher’s Weekly on The Wrong War

At age 70, West went to Afghanistan and embedded himself with troops, into the bases and out on patrols, to offer a perceptive critique America’s counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. In his recent book, West argues unclear objectives, bad political assumptions, failed leadership and a lack of a detailed strategy have negatively effected any structure of success.

American troops have built-up on the battlefield.Author of seven books, he hasn’t been a stranger to positive acknowledgment. His 2004 book The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the First Marine Division, co-authored with Marine Corps General Ray L. Smith, was awarded the Marine Corps Heritage Prize for non-fiction, as well as the Colby Award. He’s also been the recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Media Award and his work has appeared on the Commandant’s Reading List. His book The Strongest Tribe, is a history of the Iraq War that was a New York Times Bestseller.

West is a graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities. He was an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War before serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He later chaired the United States Security Commissions with El Salvador, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, South Korea and Japan. 

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East Institute, and the Infantry Order of St. Crispin, he appears frequently on C-SPAN and The News Hour.

Currently, he is the president of the GAMA Corporation, which designs wargames and combat decision-making simulations.

We look forward to having Mr. West as our guest speaker during our conference, and excited to hear what he has to share about his book.

Note from the AFA President: Debt ceiling, Hero

AFA members, Congressional staff members, Civic leaders, DOCA members, 

As most of you know, the nation's capital is embroiled in a debt ceiling debate.  It is an important one, given the annual deficit and those projected for the next 10 years ($1T/ per year).  It takes a strong economy to provide the funds for a strong military and a strong national defense.  I have noted to you in the past that the Preamble to the Constitution says:  " ... provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare ..." and those two verbs seem to be mixed up today. 

One line I hear on the Hill is that the debt ceiling does not have to be raised as the government still has revenues coming in.  I think a look at the numbers might be beneficial.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the government will receive $172B in revenues between Aug 3 and Aug 31.  If it chose to cover the rest of the month, it could pay for:  Interest on the debt [$29B], Social Security benefits [$49B], Medicaid and Medicare [$50B], active duty military pay [$2.9B], DOD vendors (not sure what's in this one) [$31.7B], IRS refunds [$3.9B], and about a quarter of the $12.8B in unemployment checks due that month.  However, there would be no cash for highway construction, federal workers or retirees, no agriculture payments, no open national parks, etc., etc.

My point in giving you the numbers is to let you know how much we will be spending in August -- $134B over what we collect.  Clearly this cannot go on for much longer.  The consequences would be dire.

Secondly, I will continue highlighting those heroes in the Air Force who continue to fight for our security.  The person I want to highlight today is Staff Sergeant David Flowers, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician.  You can find his story at:  http://r.listpilot.net/c/afa/6drhetd/2q24d

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn

President/CEO

Air Force Association

DoD Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace

The Pentagon yesterday released its first strategy for operating in cyberspace. The plan includes five strategic initiatives: organizing and training professionals to take full advantage of cyberspace’s potential; employing defense operating concepts to protect DoD networks; partnering with other U.S. government departments and agencies, as well as the private sector; building relationships with international partners to strengthen collective cybersecurity; and leveraging the nation’s ingenuity through an exceptional cyber workforce and rapid technological innovation.

The Air Force Association welcomes this strategy and its implementation. The asymmetric impact in cyberspace, along with the tool and techniques developed by cyber criminals, can significantly affect U.S. defensive readiness, national security and the nation’s day-to-day functions. 

" A failure by the Department to secure its systems in cyberspace would pose a fundamental risk to our ability to accomplish defense missions today and in the future."

- 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review

We encourage you to read the document as it offers a roadmap of DoD's expected efforts to effectively operate in the cyber domain and defend national interests in the years to come.

Note from the AFA President: CyberVille!

AFA Members, Congressional staff members, civic leaders, DOCA members, 

AFA’s National High School Cyber Defense Competition – CyberPatriot – is making great progress on several fronts, and I want to bring you up to date on a particularly fun one: AFA’s Facebook cyber game called: “CyberVille”.

As of today, any Facebook user can access it by logging on to Facebook, and then navigating in a browser to http://apps.facebook.com/cyberville/. Alternatively, in the Facebook search box, simply enter “Cyberville,” and the game will appear under the “Apps” section, ready for you to click on it and join the fun. 

 

It is important to understand what CyberVille is and what it isn’t. It was fielded as an entertaining “attractant” to CyberPatriot, something that will draw a broad audience to our flagship STEM program. Game players use strategy and a quick hand on the button to repel waves of ugly make-believe cyber attackers who try to hack cell phone systems, bank accounts, and the local electric company. Success is measured by how well a player defends his or her town against evil viruses and cyber attacks, and on how far he or she progresses. The game does a very good job at a concept level of showing how pervasive cyber systems are, and how much is at risk if we don’t practice safe cyber security. And at each level players are offered the opportunity to learn more about CyberPatriot by following a link to our website.

But it is important to note that CyberPatriot is no more a training program on cyber security than the wildly popular Farmville (with its 80+ million players) trains anyone for a career in agriculture. No one will become an Ubuntu wizard by playing CyberVille, nor will anyone be ready to take over as a system administrator because they mastered it. Our strategy is simply to bring many people to a recreational game and then offer them a real challenge—CyberPatriot—by leading them to our website, which the game does at every level of play. We could have generated a training program (which we think would attract very few users). We chose instead to make this game something many, many people (we hope many, many thousands) will want to share. We want it to be the Farmville of cyber, and our success will be measured by how many people we draw to the game and how many of those people “click-through” to our CyberPatriot website.

I hope you circulate it widely, especially among friends, associates, and colleagues who may be active on Facebook, so we are successful with it.

Thank you for promoting AFA’s CyberPatriot: The National High School Cyber Defense Competition.

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

2011 Air & Space Conference Highlight: Charles Krauthammer

We are proud to announce award-winning writer Charles Krauthammer as one of our 2011 Air and Space Conference speakers. Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, Krauthammer currently writes an internationally syndicated column for The Washington Post Writers Group. He began writing the weekly column for the Washington Post in January 1985 and it now appears in more than 180 newspapers. He is also a panelist on Inside Washington and Special Report with Bret Baier.

Along with receiving a Pulitzer Prize, he was named by the Financial Times as America's most influential commentator.  

Born in New York City and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Krauthammer was educated at McGill University (B.A. 1970), Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. 1975). Though he suffered a paralyzing diving accident in his first year of medical school, which hospitalized him for a year, he continued his medical studies and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975, and then began working as a psychiatrist.

In 1978, he came to Washington to help direct planning in psychiatric research in the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to The New Republic. In 1980, he served as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale and from 2001 to 2006, he served on the President's Council on Bioethics.

For now three decades, his influential writings have helped frame American foreign policy. He coined and developed The Reagan Doctrine (Time, April 1985), defined the structure of the post-Cold War world in The Unipolar Moment (Foreign Affairs, Winter 1990/1991), and outlined the principles of post-9/11 American foreign policy in his Irving Kristol Lecture, Democratic Realism (AEI Press, March 2004).

Krauthammer joined us at last year's Air & Space Conference, attracting a large crowd as he spoke about American foreign policy in the Middle East. We look forward to his session this year!