Drones, missiles and AI: Huntsville's role in the future of air defense
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Defense reporter Colin Demarest, left, and David Fitzgerald, acting under secretary of the Army, at Axios' Future of Defense event. Photo: Simply Dave Photography on behalf of Axios
The nature of air defense is changing in the era of drones and the Golden Dome, and Axios brought together thought leaders in the industry to talk about what shape that's likely to take.
Why it matters: These issues are set to significantly impact industries in Huntsville, where the government and private companies will play a role in bolstering traditional air defense and defining its future.
- Axios' defense reporter Colin Demarest and publisher Nicholas Johnston moderated the conversations at Tuesday's event at Stovehouse, covering how the landscape of air defense is evolving.
David Fitzgerald, acting under secretary of the Army, called Huntsville "a hub of innovation," where "there's been a confluence of capability, development and cutting-edge research."
- Air defense, he said, is likely one of the most in-demand and operationally deployed capabilities within the Army.
Context: Serving as the Army's COO and chief managing officer, Fitzgerald said the future of air defense will center on the amount of AI-enabled fire control software and scaling command architectures like the IBCS.
- "I think integrated air and missile defense is going to continue to be a key capability that the Army delivers to the Joint Force," Fitzgerald said.
- The Army also continues to modernize through the Army Transformation Initiative, which he said has already resulted in $45 billion in assets freed up by the divestment of obsolete technologies.
Zoom in: But America may be getting left behind, according to Epirus CEO Andy Lowery, who said a drone maker recently told him the U.S. has an industrial capacity of constructing roughly 100,000 units per year, compared to millions in China.
- "We're orders of magnitude behind in a 'me-too' battle," Lowery said. "We get around that by not playing the 'me-too' ... We have to think about clever ways ... new ways of fighting warfare."
- Epirus creates a smart electromagnetic noise field that understands what it's attacking, he said, and the more advanced computers get, the more susceptible they are to that interference.
Will Edwards, co-founder and CEO of Firehawk Aerospace, is bullish on finding innovative and efficient ways of supporting existing systems.
- Firehawk 3-D prints rocket propellant using a novel feedstock that's drastically reduced costs and production times, he said.
- "It would cost you about a quarter-billion to $300 million to produce a facility that can make 100,000 pounds of propellant per year. So for $22 million, we're 10-Xing that," Edwards said of the company's new Oklahoma facility.
What they're saying: Tom Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said missile defense is a hot topic today because "the threat gets a vote."
- Recent conflict in the Middle East has expended "a scary number" of missiles recently, which he said is "a big problem" for existing stockpiles.
- "The Pentagon is mashing the panic button," Karako said. "Look for some frantic efforts in terms of procurement in the next coming months."
Karako said there must be a "consensus" among military and industry leaders on the purpose of the Golden Dome project, which President Trump has said will reach around $175 billion through 2028.
- "We've got to create the shared understanding of what it is that we're doing here and why," he said.
- The "why," Karako said, is "the threat and strategic logic" of a potential attack, especially as a nuclear reprisal. "People talk about a space Pearl Harbor; I worry about a Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor."