U.S. Navy League Chief Executive Officer Mike Stevens highlighted the importance of getting back to business and maintaining the relationships formed during the first exposition since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“SAS would not be possible without the more than 27,000 participants, 270 speakers, industry and international partners working together to build partnerships in the challenging atmosphere we’re in,” said Stevens.
“If you look at what the service chiefs have done over the last couple of years, working together to build a tri service, maritime strategy, figuring out how to bring all these components of naval power together, it's really remarkable,” said The Honorable James F. Geurts, performing the duties of the Under Secretary of the Navy, during opening remarks at day one of SAS. “It's always a great honor to hear them in their words, talk about how they see the future unfolding and how they're working together to generate the capabilities and we all need as a nation.”
Adm. John Richardson, U.S Navy (ret.) 31st Chief of Naval Operations moderated the tri-service maritime leadership panel where Adm. Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations; Gen. David Berger, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and Adm. Karl Schultz, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard discussed the unique opportunities and challenges commanders face while operating on land, sea and air.
The sea service chiefs identified best strategies for connecting the gaps between sea and shore capabilities for maritime forces. Adm. Gilday stressed readiness, training, capacity and Sailors as key areas to addressing geopolitical and technological changes and maintaining an advantage in strategic competition.
“Having individual Sailors and Marines who are able to embrace the Navy’s signature behaviors and show up as the best technician through revolutionizing training programs [for example, Ready Relevant Learning] will ultimately allow us to surpass our counterparts.”
Berger echoed the commitment to building a modernized tri-service team that expands the military’s advantage at sea.
“Being able to train and educate through wargaming, experimenting and exercises are crucial to building maritime leaders who are able to fight from and compete from the sea. The building and blending together of the services is what it will take to work,” said Berger.
Leaders also spoke on the operational challenges and security risks in the Indo-Pacific and Arctic region through fleet modernization and investing in emerging technologies to promote an agile and competitive maritime force.
The Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition was founded in 1965 as a means to bring the U.S. defense industrial base, U.S. private-sector companies and key military decision makers together for an annual innovative, educational, professional and maritime-based event. Sea-Air-Space is the largest maritime exposition in the U.S. and continues as an invaluable extension of the Navy League’s mission of maritime policy education and sea service support.