Information & Organizers

The AIAA Defense and Security Forum (AIAA DEFENSE Forum) is a Secret/NOFORN event providing a venue for leaders from government, military, industry, and academia to advance and accelerate innovation. The 2021 forum, to be held 14–16 September at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD, covers the strategic, programmatic, and technical topics and policy issues pertaining to the aerospace and defense community. This year’s theme will explore the strategic imperatives of competition – from great power competition to commercial innovation to competing in the marketplace of ideas.

The forum’s program consists of two main parts: a technical program offering a deep analysis on research and technologies geared to solve specific problems, and high-level plenary sessions tackling the most pressing issues impacting the future of national security.

Highlights from previous AIAA DEFENSE Forums can be found in the Archives.

Executive Steering Committee

• Danielle Curcio, Raytheon Missiles and Defense (Forum Executive Chair)
• Dave Denhard, Missile Defense Agency
• Aaron Dufrene, CUBRC
• Dean Gehr, IERUS Technologies
• Darren Hayashi, Raytheon Missiles and Defense
• Laura McGill, Sandia National Laboratories
• Tony Mitchell, CAES
• Jamie Morin, The Aerospace Corporation
• Ali Raz, George Mason University
• Katherine Rink, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• Robie Samanta Roy, Electra.aero
• Ed Swallow, The Aerospace Corporation
• David Van Wie, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Forum Technical Chair

• Ryan Fontaine, Technical Staff, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

The Technical Program Committee is listed on the Call for Technical Briefings page.