The exposition, held Aug. 2-4 at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, brings together the U.S. defense industrial base, private-sector U.S. companies, and key military decision makers for an innovative, educational, and professional maritime-based event. 

Surgeon General of the Navy, Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham praised the work of the Navy’s preventive medicine teams as a “secret weapon” in the fleet’s COVID response arsenal.  

“It was an extremely challenging environment and it remains a challenging environment” said Gillingham. “The challenge we faced extended beyond force health protection into public health where we were able to provide support. The USNS Comfort’s arrival in New York was a marquee event and the preventive medicine units were crucial to responding to the Navy’s public health efforts.” 

Vice Adm. Scott Conn, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities (OPNAV N9), shared his thoughts on the future of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and the need within the DoD to maintain a competitive advantage in the unmanned arena. 

“The world’s a different place today. At the end of the Cold War, there was an anomaly in history that the U.S. had a monopoly on key critical technology, and that’s no longer the case. We don’t have a monopoly on range and precision and because of that we need to expand our operational reach,” said Conn during panel discussions. 

Conn said the Navy must look at those challenging operational problems and determine how to use unmanned systems in the air, on the surface, and undersea to achieve the warfighting advantage at the tactical level.  

“Our first job is to prevent crisis and conflict from happening in day to day operations and ISR is a part of that,” he said. 

Acting Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Thomas Harker delivered remarks during a luncheon, urging attendees to continue embracing partnerships among industry, public, and private organizations in order for the Navy to thrive.