“Accelerating Mission Advantage” highlights ARA solutions designed to strengthen decision advantage, operational effectiveness, survivability, and readiness across contested environments.
Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) will showcase advanced technologies and mission-focused capabilities at the 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, September 14–16 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Under the theme “Accelerating Mission Advantage,” ARA will demonstrate how its science, technology, digital capabilities, advanced systems, and mission expertise help address emerging requirements and accelerate solutions from complex operational challenges to fieldable capability.
Hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association, this year’s conference is centered on “Advancing Air & Space Dominance: An Urgent Call to Build and Sustain the Forces.” The event brings together Air Force and Space Force leadership, operational commanders, acquisition professionals, technology leaders, and industry partners to address the capabilities required to meet today’s threats and build the future force.
Accelerating Mission Advantage
The speed and complexity of today’s operating environment demand more than technology innovation alone. The joint force must detect emerging threats earlier, make decisions faster, deliver effects across contested domains, and sustain combat power against increasingly capable adversaries.
ARA brings together multidisciplinary expertise to help customers address those challenges across the capability lifecycle. At Air, Space & Cyber 2026, ARA will highlight solutions supporting four interconnected mission outcomes:
SENSE | Detect. Understand. Characterize. Advanced sensing, intelligence, threat detection, electromagnetic spectrum capabilities, mission analytics, and related technologies that improve awareness and understanding of complex operational environments.
DECIDE | Model. Analyze. Decide. Artificial intelligence, modeling and simulation, digital engineering, mission analytics, synthetic environments, decision-support technologies, cyber capabilities, and command-and-control solutions that transform complex information into faster, higher-confidence decisions.
ACT | Integrate. Deploy. Deliver Effects. Autonomous systems, electronic warfare, advanced mission systems, weapons effects, rapid prototyping, systems integration, testing, and other technologies that translate information and decision advantage into operational effects.
SUSTAIN | Protect. Produce. Preserve Readiness. Rapid prototyping and manufacturing, testing and evaluation, infrastructure resilience, training, survivability, logistics technologies, and lifecycle capabilities that help preserve force readiness and mission effectiveness.
From Complex Problems to Operational Capability
For more than 45 years, ARA has applied science, technology, and technical expertise to complex problems of national importance.
Today’s mission environment increasingly requires the integration of disciplines and technologies that have traditionally operated independently. ARA combines capabilities across modeling and simulation, digital modernization, systems analysis, physical design and testing, rapid prototyping, advanced manufacturing, autonomy, cyber, sensing, training, and specialized national security technologies.
This breadth enables ARA teams to support customers from early-stage research and operational analysis through development, integration, testing, production, deployment, and sustainment.
Innovative Solutions for Operational Dominance
Air, Space & Cyber attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with ARA technical experts, explore technologies and mission applications, and discuss emerging requirements facing the Air Force, Space Force, joint force, and national security community.
ARA invites attendees to bring their most difficult mission challenges:
- Where do you need to detect earlier?
- Where do you need to decide faster?
- Where can autonomy reduce risk to the warfighter?
- How can modeling, simulation, AI, or digital technologies accelerate capability development?
- How can emerging technologies improve survivability and resilience?
- How can promising technology transition from concept to operational capability faster?
VISIT ARA AT AIR, SPACE & CYBER 2026
ARA Booth 149
September 14–16, 2026
National Harbor, Maryland
CONTACT
airspacecyber@ara.com
