Press Release -- May 22, 2018

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Las Vegas – Major General Peter Gersten, Commander of the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, touted private sector innovation as a major asset in tackling the Air Force’s modern challenges. General Gersten spoke Tuesday evening, 22 May, at a reception at Nellis hosted by the Southern Nevada chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association, https://ndia-snv.org/.

NDIA’s Southern Nevada Chapter President Marty Waldman said fostering such partnerships is at the heart of NDIA’s mission. “Our group exists to provide a pipeline of communication between innovation that is applicable to the defense industry and our nation’s military leaders,” Waldman said. “General Gersten perfectly articulated the importance of our military tapping into the expertise and technological know-how of private sector entrepreneurs. This is a shared mission with a shared goal: to continue to ensure our military is the strongest and finest in the world.”

Tuesday’s reception at Nellis Air Force Base was attended by about 75 people, and was part of a series of events NDIA plans in the coming months throughout southern Nevada.

“Communication is the key, as General Gersten reminded us,” Waldman said. “There’s a wealth of innovation, advancement and operational expertise in our community, some of it already supporting Defense endeavors, and we need to make sure our military is aware of it, if they aren’t already. We need more leaders like General Gersten who are willing to look for creative solutions for the betterment of our military heroes.”

Additionally, Waldman emphasized how the US Air Force is #1 Air Force in the World, and Nellis is the lead Base of the Air Force. 

“If we consider how the Leader of Nellis just headlined our event, and that Las Vegas is an emerging hub for defense technology, in addition to being the home of the first AFwerX, it just doesn’t get any better than that!”