Air Warfare

Drones, China and lots of uniforms: What to expect at AFA 2024 [VIDEO]

Aaron Mehta and Michael Marrow preview the upcoming Air and Space Forces Association conference and break down what you need to know.

By Aaron Mehta on September 13, 2024 2:04 pm

WASHINGTON — Technically, fall doesn’t begin until Sept. 22. But for those in the Air and Space Force community, the changing of the seasons gets officially underway on Sept. 16, when airmen and Guardians gather at National Harbor, Md., for the annual Air and Space Forces Association conference.

Pack your finest suit, get in line for your Pumpkin Spice Latte and prepare for the conference by watching our video above, in which Breaking Defense’s Aaron Mehta and Michael Marrow set the stage for the conference.

And make sure to check out our landing page throughout the conference, as we’ll have a large team on site bringing you the best stories from the event.

PHOTOS: AFA 2024

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PHOTOS: AFA 2024

The Israeli firm Rafael came to AFA 2024, here displaying its ice Breaker "5th-gen long-range autonomous precision strike weapon system." (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Elta, a subsidiary of Israeli firm IAI, displayed the ELL-8222SB, an airborne electronic jamming pod, at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Keynote Address: One Air Force. Gen. David W. Allvin, Chief of Staff of the Air Force. September 16, 2024. (Mike Tsukamoto/ Air & Space Forces Magazine)
This curious contraption at one end of the AFA 2024 hall is Resonant Sciences's RAZR, a "high performing, fieldable, robotic system for close-range multi-spectral measurments of aircraft and aircraft components such as radomes, surfaces and edges," the company says. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
General Dynamic, a company that makes some seriously large platforms, comes the suitcase-sized Tactical Cross Domain Solutions system, or TACDS, on display at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Intellisense Systems' offerings at AFA 2024 included the LAD-2008 cockpit display system, as a virtual pilot banked left. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
General Electric went chromed out with its display of an F110 Turbofan engine at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Looking especially sharp, Amentum's MULE UAV hung above visitors' heads at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
iPerformX invited attendees at AFA 2024 to sit in its F-35 simulator to get a feel for the next-gen stealth fighter. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
A patch is shown on an airman's uniform for the service's ABMS effort. (Aaron Mehta/Breaking Defense)
Honeywell offers an x-ray view of its F124 engine at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
A Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Q-UGV stands on all fours at the ready at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Marvin Group displays what it calls a common armament test set, or MTS-209, at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
At AFA 2024, Verdego Aero showed off its VH-3-185 Hybrid Electric Aircraft Powerplant. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Alaska Defense extends a mobile lighting platform at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Anduril's Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) on display at AFA. (Valerie Insinna/Breaking Defense)
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc's CCA on display at AFA 2024 (Valerie Insinna/Breaking Defense)
GA-ASI's XQ-67A OBSS on display at AFA 2024 (Valerie Insinna/Breaking Defense)
A couple aerial platforms from Europe's MBDA on dsiplay at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Blue Halo shows off a family of quadcopters to be used on mobile missions with its truck-based command post at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
A model of Airbus's Arrow satellite playload at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
A seat for getting out of Dodge, Martin-Baker's F-35 ejection seat is shown at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
Anduril's Barracuda family of munitions at the company's stand at AFA 2024. (Brendon Smith / Breaking Defense)
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