A Message from AOC Symposium Chairman Bill Conley

On behalf of the Association, I want to welcome my fellow Crows, younger and older, to the 59th Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention.  As we’ve seen over the last year and change as we emerged from our COVID cocoons, there is great value in bringing the community together, sharing insights, lessons learned, and best practices.  I was honored when our former President, Powder Carlson, reached out to invite me to chair the Symposium and lead the development of the agenda.  Knowing thatI’d need a strong team around me, I quickly reached out to a great group of fellow Crows.  While we considered a diverse number of things happening globally ranging from supply chain issues to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we quickly gelled on the realization that China remains the pacing threat. 

This year, we’re keeping our eye on the ball, realizing that we’re in the middle inning of a much longer game.  We also realize that when platform development programs can stretch on for decades, our EMSO capabilities are one of the few items where we can make meaningful, and affordable, steps forward in modernizing our capabilities within a few years.  Building on this insight, I want to invite each of you to join us at the Symposium this year titled “The EMSO Playbook: Maneuvering to Win in a New Era.”

The agenda provides the formal sharing of insights, lessons learned, an update on implementing our strategy.  We’re purposefully inviting a diverse group, ranging from technology developers to senior international leaders. 

Specifically, I’m looking forward to breakout sessions on operational art, JADC2, and countering adversary C5ISR.  A variety of commercial advancements are brought into our systems each year; we’ll have a panel dedicated to our supply chain and other sessions on Open Standard Architectures that are applicable to our community.  Lastly, we’re looking at how advanced technologies in 5G and uncrewed systems will change the tactical and operational levels of war.  The interconnection of technology, tactics, and operational planning is a deep interest of mine. 

Similar to the Navy’s “Get Real, Get Better” campaign, we look forward to honest, direct, and insightful discussion to ensure we take the needed actions in the coming year to provide an unfair advantage for our warfighters, our nation, and our globe.