SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL. —
Air Mobility Command will host the 2023 Spring Industry Preview with DoD and Industry partners at Joint Base McGuire Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., April 11-12, 2023. The deadline for submissions from Industry is March 24.
During this year’s iteration, AMC will highlight three operational challenges belonging to the U.S. Expeditionary Center: expeditionary, medical and logistics. Solution providers will likely be invited to further discuss their recommendations during the annual Airlift/Tanker Association’s Industry Day, Nov. 8-9, 2023.
Participating industry partners will receive stage-setter presentations, informative briefings and hands-on, immersive demonstrations to highlight some of the issues mobility Airmen endure and overcome while executing the Air Mobility mission.
“We are closing gaps with urgency to respond to current and real-world threats,” said Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command. “Based on the turnout and results from last year’s SIP, it’s clear Industry understands our role as the maneuver of the Joint Force and I’m excited to see what ideas and capabilities our partners offer this year.”
AMC introduced its “MARCO-POLO” concept last year during a four-day preview last July at Scott Air Force Base. The command requested that industry come to A/TA in the Fall with solutions geared toward developing sustainable, scalable solutions leveraging existing infrastructure.
“We had a remarkable turnout,” said Col. Bradley Rueter, AMC Commander’s Initiative Group director. “During the Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium, mobility representatives heard from more than 65 companies with a total of 184 recommended solutions.”
“The American warfighter will be challenged by threats that flow instantaneously from multiple sources in an environment that is an order of magnitude more complicated than anything ever operated in or envisioned before,” continued Rueter.
From the A/TA Industry Day, the mobility panel selected 11 of the 184 proposals to give to subject matter experts in the command for potential implementation. The rest of proposals were sent back to Industry for additional research. The solutions forwarded ranged from an exoskeleton suit for human performance, environmental monitoring system, to aerospace ground equipment gear.
“On the aircraft side alone, we are on track to use four different proposals that we heard during the A/TA symposium [last year],” Rueter said. “Going from proposal in late October to flyable during Mobility Guardian is only possible because of the tremendous efforts by the engineers, and project managers within our program offices, and the unrivaled support from industry.”
Other A/TA proposals are being used during Mobility Guardian 2023 in other facets of the exercise.
“I’m confident that this novel way of bringing industry partners of all sizes and expertise to the table will allow us to navigate through multi-domain challenges while creating challenges for the adversary along the way. That equates to deterrence and if necessary, lethality.”
Mobility Guardian 2023 is AMC’s premier exercise, set to occur in the Indo-Pacific region and is designed to test the Mobility Air Force enterprise’s concept of operations. The exercise will present AMC’s winning scheme of maneuver, which incorporates joint and international alliances and partnerships.
“In an era of renewed strategic competition, the tyranny of distance and the tyranny of water makes the fight to get to the fight all that more challenging,” Minihan said. “Through approaches like this, AMC can develop the tools required to outpace our adversaries and win.”
Industry partners will be invited to present their solutions for the issues discussed at SIP at this year’s Industry Day during A/TA.
