Dave Pirozzo, a computer engineer with the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Engineering and Development Center, discusses the center’s efforts to boost vehicle autonomy to increase manpower and keep soldiers out of harm’s way during a June 29, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the British Embassy in Washington. The interview was conducted during the embassy’s Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event.

Shannon Green, director of the Center for Strategic and International Success’ Human Rights Initiative, and Mark Schneider, a senior, non-resident adviser to the initiative and to the think tank’s Americas Program, discuss their takeaways from Vision of Humanity’s 2017 Global Peace Index during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian following the report’s June 7, 2017, launch at CSIS headquarters in Washington.

Alvin Cross, head of the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Autonomous Vehicles Section, discusses its “Flimmer,” or the Flying-Swimmer — a combination unmanned aerial and underwater vehicle — and the “Nomad” UAS during a June 29, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the British Embassy in Washington. The interview was conducted during the Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event at the British Embassy in Washington.

Steve Whitby, head of business development and sales for Airbus Defence and Space’s Zephyr program, says the company has made the UAS lighter and larger, invested in battery technology that it says will extend the Zephyr’s battery life to 30 days and nights — thereby breaking its own world record — and more during a June 29, 2017 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted during the Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event at the British Embassy in Washington.

Lyle Heckman, unmanned aerial systems instructor and operator at Insitu, updates Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian on developments with the company’s ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems program — including “purpose-built engines” designed to boost performance, RPM, fuel efficiency and allow for longer flight times, a smaller UAS launcher, a SkyHook recovery system redesign and more during a June 29, 2017, interview. The interview was conducted during the Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event at the British Embassy in Washington.

Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF Ret., dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, discusses his new report entitled “Consolidating the Revolution: Optimizing the Potential of Remotely Piloted Aircraft,” and says the US Defense Department needs to make its use of RPA use “more economical, efficient” and “effective,” by improving technology, organization and acquisition, during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the Institute’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Lana Baydas, PhD, research fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Human Rights Initiative, says “there is no competition between human rights and security” and that the US needs to tell its strategic partners that counterterrorism efforts must still respect people’s human rights during a June 7, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at CSIS headquarters in Washington. The interview was conducted right after the launch of Vision of Humanity’s 2017 Global Peace Index.