LANDEURO 2025, organised by the Association of the US Army or AUSA, is underway in Wiesbaden in Germany, writes Bob Morrison.
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The inaugural event and also the first time AUSA has run a conference and exhibition outside of the United States, LANDEURO exceeded expectations of organisers, exhibitors and many of the small core of European specialist defence media representatives who attended on the opening day. Only publicised a little over five months ago, the two-day event not only attracted large numbers of currently serving and veteran AUSA Members well before yesterday’s published opening time but every exhibitor stand shown on the original floorplan circulated at the start of the year was occupied and it was ‘standing room only’ for many of the panel sessions.
AUSA, founded 75 years ago in 1950, is a not-for-profit organisation that serves as the professional association of the United States Army. It promotes itself as being a non-partisan, educational association which “strengthens the bond between Soldiers and the American people, promotes the military profession, and enhances ties with industry”. From a specialist international defence journalist’s perspective the LANDEURO event, supported by Headquarters US Army Europe & Africa or HQ USAREURAF, is primarily a research session that gives the opportunity to listen in on Unclassified topical panel discussions involving both serving military personnel and industry representatives, with many of the latter having had long previous careers in the armed forces.
As well as being talking shops, events organised by AUSA also give attendees the chance to see some exhibited possible future US Army systems and equipment which might not otherwise appear on their radar until it enters service. Normally the cost of travelling to the United States for one of the major and very popular AUSA conferences would be prohibitive for Joint-Forces.com, but this inaugural European event has brought attending within our budget. No formal announcement has been made at time of publication but the buzz is that LANDEURO 2026 is on the cards and, based on my experiences yesterday and my expectations for today, if it happens I will certainly be doing my best to attend.
[Images © Bob Morrison]
