Army’s AUSA Summit Spotlights Expanded Global Participation and New Defense Capabilities

Six anti‑war protesters interrupted a panel on autonomous warfare featuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the service secretaries at Wednesday’s Army annual conference. As the third demonstrator denounced the U.S.–Iran conflict, some attendees began chanting “USA, USA.”

The usually low‑key atmosphere at the event gave way to a stark contrast this year, underscored by a noticeably stronger international presence—both in the number of global firms on display and the scale of their exhibits.

Ukrainian companies made their first appearance, operating a large tent just two blocks from the convention center. In total, 165 international companies and nine national pavilions—representing Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, South Korea, and Norway—were present on the show floor, according to AUSA, which shared the figures with Defense One.

The international delegation numbered roughly 2,000 members, about the average for recent years, and spanned 92 countries. It included 27 army chiefs, 14 sergeants‑major of the Army, 17 ambassadors, and two defense ministers, per AUSA data.

The rise in ambassador participation suggests that, despite escalating geopolitical tensions, there remains a robust appetite for diplomatic engagement and foreign military sales.

Up, up, and away. The Army’s Space and Missile Defense Agency is pursuing a family of stratospheric platforms—such as high‑altitude balloons—capable of delivering space‑like capabilities at lower altitudes, Col. Joseph Mroszczyk, director of the agency’s transformation integration directorate for space superiority, told reporters Wednesday.

• “We focus on altitudes between roughly 60,000 and 100,000 feet, where we can achieve persistent, wide‑area coverage and leverage wind currents to position payloads for launch, sensing, or communications,” Mroszczyk explained.
• The agency plans to launch multiple prototype experiments in the coming year.

Bonus: The agency is also developing a virtual space training environment to model and analyze how space effects could shape modern operations, Mroszczyk said.

Biodefense prep. The Army’s updated biodefense strategy calls for integrating biothreats into major military exercises as a routine operational constraint, according to Alison Tamasi, chief of the Army Nuclear and CWMD Agency’s survivability and effects analysis division.

• “Our next goal is to embed bio‑defense considerations into standard warfighter exercises, where the entire staff must address the threat as one of the scenario’s injects,” Tamasi noted.
• These exercises can range from tabletop sessions at the corps level or lower, where commanders and subject‑matter experts map responses to scenarios such as a viral outbreak at a port.

Making moves + other news

• Anduril will allow employees to sell shares through a tender offer, valuing the firm at roughly $90 billion.
• BAE Systems has added two new counter‑drone systems: a multi‑domain artillery cannon and a high‑power microwave device.
• Leonardo DRS secured a $500 million IDIQ with the Pentagon’s JIATF‑401 for tactical expeditionary sensing technology.
• Merlin Aerospace completed the first flight test of its autonomous pilot, designed for missions like maritime search and patrol.
• The Pentagon and the Small Business Administration signed an agreement to improve access to strategic capital for defense‑critical manufacturers, suppliers, and innovators through the BOND initiative.

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