Unlike sprawling trade shows or generalist tech expos, this forum is laser-focused on accelerating trusted autonomy and capture strategies where it matters most: in defense operations and industrial base growth.
AUVSI Defense 2025 brought together a curated community of defense leaders, program managers, technologists, and solution providers to drive outcomes, not just awareness. It was designed to close the gap between emerging innovation and operational capability by advancing capture strategies, strengthening the America First defense industrial base, and aligning innovation with warfighter demand. Together, we tackled shared priorities head-on:
- Mitigating reliance on adversarial supply chains and building an America First, trusted, domestic technology base
- Identifying and addressing supply chain vulnerabilities across air, ground, and maritime platforms
- Accelerating fielding of mission-ready autonomous capabilities to enhance warfighter effectiveness and strengthen industrial base resilience
Attendees engaged directly with key decision-makers shaping acquisition reform, platform certification, and strategic investments.
AUVSI Defense is the place to move beyond the showroom floor and into the decision cycle.
If you’re looking to influence or implement the next era of mission-ready autonomy, you won’t find a more focused or timely opportunity.
For Industry
Where Business Meets Battlefield Needs
AUVSI Defense offered a direct line to the policymakers, program managers, and acquisition officials defining the future of autonomy in defense. It was not a traditional trade show, but a working forum designed to accelerate capture strategy, enable fielding, build trusted supply chains, and match industry capabilities to DoD priorities.
Industry leaders attended to:
- Translate policy and funding signals into actionable capture strategies
- Get clarity on near-term funding, procurement, and certification pathways
- Engage in targeted conversations with government decision-makers
- Position your technologies for inclusion in trusted platform pipelines
- Navigate evolving NDAA compliance, DIU standards, and component-level security expectations
- Build meaningful relationships that go beyond business development and into implementation
If your company is looking to play a role in defense autonomy—from component manufacturing to full-stack systems—this is where alignment happens.
For Defense Stakeholders
Engage Industry. Share Challenges. Drive Alignment.
AUVSI Defense is a mission-essential forum where government and military leaders engaged directly with industry to accelerate the secure integration of autonomous systems. The program was conducted under Chatham House Rule, closed to media and open only to U.S. and allied nation stakeholders to ensure candid, operationally relevant dialogue.
Defense leaders attended to:
- Learn where industry is facing friction—whether in certification, sourcing, or scaling
- Share capability gaps, operational challenges, and timelines to guide development
- Inform requirements and acquisition pathways through structured, candid engagement
- Strengthen alignment with trusted U.S. suppliers, integrators, and innovators
- Build a feedback loop that accelerates delivery of warfighter-ready technologies
If you‘re working to scale autonomy across the force, this is your chance to help shape trusted U.S. solutions—ensuring the right capabilities are built and delivered rapidly to the warfighter.
