Where Autonomy Moves from Signal to Strategy
Unlike broad trade shows or generalist tech expos, AUVSI Defense is built around a single, defining question: how does trusted autonomy move from innovation to operational capability faster than any adversary can adapt.
This is a focused, working forum where demand signal becomes capture strategy, and where industry and government align on what gets built, funded, and fielded next.
A Forum Built for Outcomes, Not Awareness
AUVSI Defense convenes a curated community of defense leaders, program executives, technologists, and industry partners to drive action.
Conducted under Chatham House Rule and open only to U.S. and allied stakeholders, the environment is designed for candid, operationally relevant dialogue. The access is real. The conversations are direct. The outcomes are actionable.
Together, participants work to close the gap between innovation and deployment by strengthening the industrial base, advancing capture strategies, and aligning solutions directly to warfighter demand.
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 brings together a curated community of defense leaders, program managers, technologists, and solution providers to drive outcomes, not just awareness. It is 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
Why Attend
At AUVSI Defense, attendees don’t just track the market—they position within it.
- Translate the most significant defense investment in a generation into actionable capture and growth strategy
- Understand where the Pentagon is buying, what the joint force needs now, and how to enter that pipeline
- Navigate acquisition, supply chain, and financing pathways that turn capability into contracts
- Hear directly from operational leaders shaping requirements across air, ground, maritime, space, and cyber
- Build relationships with decision-makers who are in the room specifically to engage
This is where alignment turns into execution—and execution determines who delivers.
Beyond the Showroom. Inside the Decision Cycle.
AUVSI Defense moves beyond static displays and into the conversations that shape procurement, policy, and deployment.
If you are looking to influence or implement the next era of mission-ready autonomy, at the speed and scale the moment demands, you will not find a more focused or timely environment.
For Industry
Where Business Meets Battlefield Needs
AUVSI Defense offers a direct line to the policymakers, program managers, and acquisition officials defining the future of autonomy in defense.
This is not a traditional trade show. It is a working forum designed to accelerate capture strategy, enable fielding, and align industry capabilities with DoD priorities and warfighter needs.
Industry leaders attend to:
- Translate policy and funding signals into clear capture strategies
- Gain clarity on procurement priorities, timelines, and certification pathways from prototype to program of record
- Engage directly with government decision-makers in a candid, closed-door environment
- Position technologies for inclusion in trusted system and platform pipelines
- Navigate evolving requirements around supply chain security, NDAA compliance, and trusted sourcing
- Build partnerships across primes, investors, and allied markets that turn innovation into long-term defense programs
If your company is looking to play a role in defense autonomy, from components to full systems, this is where alignment happens.
For Defense Stakeholders
Engage Industry. Share Challenges. Drive Alignment.
AUVSI Defense is a mission-focused forum where government and military leaders engage directly with industry to accelerate the secure integration of autonomous systems.
Closed to media and conducted under Chatham House Rule, the environment supports the kind of candid, operational dialogue required to move quickly and effectively.
Defense leaders attend to:
- Share capability gaps, operational challenges, and timelines that guide industry development
- Identify friction points in certification, sourcing, and scaling—and help remove them
- Engage a curated base of trusted U.S. and allied suppliers and integrators
- Inform requirements and acquisition pathways through direct, structured dialogue
- Strengthen the feedback loop between operational demand and industrial delivery
If you are working to scale autonomy across the force, this is where you help shape the solutions that will be built—and ensure they are delivered at speed.
