EVENTS
THE QUGV'S
STOLE THE SHOW!
Update from AUSA
BY PAUL FORTIN
36 DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022 www.vanguardcanada.com
W
hile the global pandem-
ic has made in-person
events difficult at best,
one of the largest de-
fence conferences in the
United States - The Association of US
Army (AUSA) 2021 took place from Oc-
tober 13-15 at the Washington D.C. Con-
vention Center. Observing strict manda-
tory vaccination and masking protocols,
over 33,000 delegates from 80 countries
and 650 exhibitors attended the largest
land power exposition and professional
development forum in North America.
Taking place over three days, the annual
AUSA meeting is designed to deliver the
US Army's message by highlighting the
capabilities of organizations and present-
ing a wide range of industry products and
services. AUSA accomplishes this task
throughout the entire event by providing
informative and relevant presentations on
the State-of-the-Army, panel discussions
and seminars on pertinent military and
national security subjects, and a variety of
valuable networking events available to
all who attended. The conference is one
of the key communication platforms used
by the US Army to educate and inform
government, academic, civic and veteran
advocates, and leadership on Army priori-
ties and issues impacting today's Army.
No more was this apparent when wan-
dering the massive trade show floor. On
display were some of the latest concept
designs for future helicopters, autono-
mous vehicles, weapon systems, and next
generation soldier systems platforms.
Most notable, and the stars of the show
were the robot patrol "canines" which
were seen wandering the show floor
handing out promotional pamphlets
from their masters. Properly referred to
as Quadrupedal Unmanned Ground Ve-
hicles or QUGV, they utilize the tech-
nology advances being implemented in
autonomous systems with a mobility ap-
proach that has been field proven with
military for reconnaissance, surveillance,
and security K-9 applications.
While the conference was not only an
ideal platform for larger institutional de-
fence companies like Lockheed Martin,
Textron, and General Dynamics to show
