AOC President Highlights EMS Enterprise Theme in Official Opening of 56th Annual Event

AOC 2019

Stephen "Muddy" Watters, AOC President, opened up the 56th annual AOC International Symposium & Convention by calling the roll of international delegates in attendance. The results were impressive with nearly half the hall standing representing over 40 nations around the globe and demonstrating that the AOC is "truly an international organization.

Beginning by describing the evolution of EW over the years, Watters called attention to how technology and technology/system investment have changed continuously with the threat – from largely aircraft self-protect through a period of greater reliance on stealth; to an emphasis on protecting vehicles and ground-based soldiers from RF-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (RCIEDs); to convergence with cyber warfare objectives, and most recently on addressing the overall objective of EMS superiority, deconfliction of capabilities, and the near-peer A2/AD challenge.

As for the role of the AOC in this process, Watters said, "We're here to advance our profession – this community. This organization started out as EW, but now it's about the EMS. We touch all of these things. Everything happens through or because of the spectrum, so our job is to connect you, to inform you, to give you the technologies or insight into the technologies that you can use to develop the requirements for, acquire, and get capabilities to the warfighter so that they can get in there, do their job, and survive."

Addressing the potential impact of the AOC today, Watters said, "You have people in positions of authority that don't understand what we do, or how important it is, so it's up to us to be that platform, to be the new thinkers, to advance new ideas and concepts, to shape the requirements and give us the capabilities and capacity to address the threat 15 years from now."

To accomplish this objective, Watters continued that it's up to the AOC and its members to bring communities together, no longer composed of largely separate groups of specialized expertise working independently. "We have to all come together to fight the fight in the EMS. I think we've already made a difference, evidenced by the conversations going on that really recognize the importance of the EMS as a warfighting domain or maneuver space."

Pointing to this year's symposium theme of "Building the EMS Enterprise." Watters asked, "So now that we have this thought process started, 'how do we do this?'" To answer the question, he said the solution is through an enterprise approach. "When we talk enterprise, it's across the board. It's a strategic vision; it's investment in manpower, training, development of doctrine, modeling and simulation, and more. How do we do a system-of-systems approach to taking down adversaries in the A2/AD environment, or terrorism environment, countering UAS, or even influencing a war way before it actually starts so that we win even before troops are actually deployed? This is the rock we must push forward, as we look at building the enterprise."

Ray Brousseau, Host Sponsor BAE Systems VP & Deputy GM, Electronic Systems Sector, also echoed the show's theme in his welcoming remarks. In remembering the challenges faced in the early development of the integrated avionics architecture of the F-35, Brousseau recalled the team began with an "empty white board." "But, while we all had our own viewpoints, we agreed that we needed to approach this differently to drive as much integration as possible into the system. We needed to avoid the easy approach of 'staying in our own swim lanes.' Most importantly, we needed to leave our badges at the door, and rather than thinking about making the most profit for our individual companies, we focused on putting the best system on the table – mission first, company second."

This, said Brousseau, "serves as a prime example of how we in the EMS community can solve any problem and beat any threat when we work together. And, that is the message of this conference. We, of the AOC, need to have a single goal in mind – protect the warfighter, and for this, we need to leave our badges at the door." – John Haystead