“AUSA as an exposition has evolved during the last 10 years into an event where industry has an opportunity to highlight solutions that address emerging needs, and showcase technologies and capabilities that can help maintain and modernize the force.”
COIN OF THE REALM: AUSA awards a chal- lenge coin to its part- ners and suppliers for a job well done. At left is this year’s coin. Above, participating in this year’s coin cer- emony — left to right — were Events DC’s Greg O’Dell, AUSA’s Roger Thompson and MIchael Scanlon, and Events DC’s James Smith and Samuel Thomas.
looking like the world’s most lethal model airplane, and a Va- lanx joint light tactical vehicle, with a gun turret and transpar- ent gun shield on top. Just across the aisle was Boeing’s similarly expansive space, equally tricked out for battle, with an A160T Hummingbird UAV brandishing eight wicked-looking missiles, a Cerberus Mobile Guardian observation unit with a camera array soaring 20 feet above the show floor, and an Avenger Derivative, a dump truck of a vehicle bristling with a dark, chunky weap- ons array. Downstairs, in Halls A, B, and C, there was a DRASH Systems command-and-control shelter — a monster-garage-sized tent outfitted with fluorescent lighting, folding tables and chairs, laptop computers, and large viewing screens. “The U.S. Army has dealt with numerous emerging issues
over [the last 10 years],” said Herb Muktarian, BAE’s vice pres- ident of marketing communications. “AUSA as an exposition has evolved over that time into an event where industry has an
108 pcma convene December 2011
opportunity to highlight solutions that address emerging needs, and showcase technologies and capabilities that can help main- tain and modernize the force.” The Army itself has gotten in on the act. Its individual de-
partments and divisions had their own displays — including the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, or ASA(ALT); U.S. Army Africa; and U.S. Army Pacific — but the Army’s main presence was smack in the mid- dle of D and E, in a space built to look like an outpost in a desert village, with checkpoints, scorched mud-and-brick buildings re- inforced with sandbags, bullet-pocked oil drums, and stop signs