Pathfinder Speakers Encourage Balancing Cost and Capability to Survive Cuts

Dyke Weatherington. AUVSI photo.

By Danielle Lucey



The 25th annual AUVSI Pathfinder Symposium, held this week, focused on doing more with less, a theme that the mostly military community surrounding the Huntsville, Ala., chapter may have to deal with for up to a decade. 



The future growth path for robotics in the military has been thrown into question with the drawdown in Afghanistan, said Dyke Weatherington, director of unmanned warfare for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 



“The question becomes … what’s the future vision from the services to be ready to the next call of arms whenever that should be? I will tell you, frankly, I’m a little concerned. I just am,” he said. “I talk to lots of folks. I talk about where are we going in the future. There’s a lot of good ideas, but from my perspective that hasn’t congealed into a single service vision for the future of our warfighters.”



Weatherington asked the conference attendees to try and innovate their way out of stagnation and create a vision of the future that’s more desirable. 



“We need innovation, and we need smart people to attack that problem,” he said. “I’m here today to encourage, plead, beg that we can’t let the last 10 years of progress fall to the wayside as we transition to a new warfare environment. … Times are going to be tough financially. I view that as a huge opportunity for this community.”