Aviation expo returning in 2011, organizers say
July 19, 2009 Filed in: USATT Expo
Saturday, July 18, 2009
EXPO PHOTOS
VANDALIA, Ohio – Organizers of the United States Air, Trade and Technology Expo will soon begin planning for the next trade show and conference in 2011 after the inaugural event exceeded expectations, they said Saturday.
Approximately
1,600 people registered for the event and 1,400
attended, said Robert Speer, president of Dayton
Defense, a Dayton-area association of defense
contractors.
Dayton Defense and the Air Force Association in Ohio organized the event, which featured senior Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and industry leaders, technical sessions, and exhibits.
Organizers had set 500 registrations as “an 80 percent solution,” Speer said, and the final turnout went well beyond that.
“There’s no issue of whether we’re going to do this in 2011,” he said, adding some participants already have inquired about it.
The event was geared to meet both Air Force and industry needs, especially by exposing acquisition and technology leaders to smaller defense companies that might offer innovative solutions to their needs.
“In this business, communication is key,” Speer said.
The industry-only event also dovetails with the weekend public Vectren Dayton Air Show Presented by Kroger. The two events were produced separately but in coordination with each other. Both take place on Dayton International Airport in Vandalia.
The expo was scheduled to run from Tuesday through Friday, but U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, added an unexpected element on Saturday with a panel discussion that included Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., senior minority member of the House Armed Services Committee.
The morning panel also included Air Force Lt. Gen. Larry James, commander the 14th Air Force and the U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command for Space, and analysts from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Turner, who is the top Republican on the House Strategic Forces subcommittee and whose district includes NASIC, underscored the importance of NASIC’s work in analyzing threats to America’s use of space. Military operations and the national economy depend on space satellites for communications, navigation, intelligence and scientific research.
“Our national security relies on our ability to operate in space,” he said.
A Chinese anti-satellite test that created thousands of pieces of space debris in February 2007 – a potential danger to other satellites – and an accidental collision two years later between a communications satellite and a dead Russian satellite are examples of the potential threats to U.S. and other satellites, Turner said.
Turner also escorted McKeon on his first tour of Wright-Patterson, which included briefings with NASIC and Air Force Materiel Command leaders and a quick tour of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. McKeon, who said it was his first visit to the base, compared the tour to a sip from a fire hose.
“I’ve seen so much and learned so much,” he said.
Turner initiated efforts to revive a trade element of the weekend air show with a $1 million earmark in the 2004 federal budget. The air show produced a trade show in the 1980s and ‘90s.
(Disclosure: The publisher of AviationDayton.com is a volunteer trustee of the United States Air and Trade Show.)
Dayton Defense and the Air Force Association in Ohio organized the event, which featured senior Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and industry leaders, technical sessions, and exhibits.
Organizers had set 500 registrations as “an 80 percent solution,” Speer said, and the final turnout went well beyond that.
“There’s no issue of whether we’re going to do this in 2011,” he said, adding some participants already have inquired about it.
The event was geared to meet both Air Force and industry needs, especially by exposing acquisition and technology leaders to smaller defense companies that might offer innovative solutions to their needs.
“In this business, communication is key,” Speer said.
The industry-only event also dovetails with the weekend public Vectren Dayton Air Show Presented by Kroger. The two events were produced separately but in coordination with each other. Both take place on Dayton International Airport in Vandalia.
The expo was scheduled to run from Tuesday through Friday, but U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, added an unexpected element on Saturday with a panel discussion that included Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., senior minority member of the House Armed Services Committee.
The morning panel also included Air Force Lt. Gen. Larry James, commander the 14th Air Force and the U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command for Space, and analysts from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Turner, who is the top Republican on the House Strategic Forces subcommittee and whose district includes NASIC, underscored the importance of NASIC’s work in analyzing threats to America’s use of space. Military operations and the national economy depend on space satellites for communications, navigation, intelligence and scientific research.
“Our national security relies on our ability to operate in space,” he said.
A Chinese anti-satellite test that created thousands of pieces of space debris in February 2007 – a potential danger to other satellites – and an accidental collision two years later between a communications satellite and a dead Russian satellite are examples of the potential threats to U.S. and other satellites, Turner said.
Turner also escorted McKeon on his first tour of Wright-Patterson, which included briefings with NASIC and Air Force Materiel Command leaders and a quick tour of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. McKeon, who said it was his first visit to the base, compared the tour to a sip from a fire hose.
“I’ve seen so much and learned so much,” he said.
Turner initiated efforts to revive a trade element of the weekend air show with a $1 million earmark in the 2004 federal budget. The air show produced a trade show in the 1980s and ‘90s.
(Disclosure: The publisher of AviationDayton.com is a volunteer trustee of the United States Air and Trade Show.)
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