HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Wouldn't you love to know what things are going to be like in 20-years? Add to that the knowledge that there are bad guys out there who wish you harm. Then there is the fact you have to take care of business today.
Josh Herren is the CEO for Yulista. The company is a major player in defense and aerospace, and according to Herren certainly understands the situation.
"General Perna said one time, you got to be able to fight wars today and tomorrow. Prepare for tomorrow, modernize the fleet, but you've got to be able to win the wars today," said Josh Herren. General Perna is the boss of the Army Materiel Command, and his responsibility is essentially the readiness of the U.S. Army.
The word readiness brings us back to Yulista. "We don't push the specific product. What we do is support the systems that matter to the Army," said Herren.
Army aviation certainly matters. Yulista's job, its goal, is to provide life cycle support for the Army's aviation programs. That includes things like the 60-Victor program which will outfit older Black Hawk helicopters with state of the art digital cockpits. That will keep the legacy helicopters flying and relevant for another decade or two. Lives do depend on it. "Just 'cause you're not necessarily close to the battlefield, your proximity changes, but your commitment never does," said Herren.
Which brings us to Yulista's 17-year commitment to the Prototype Integration Facility, the "PIF", at Redstone Arsenal. The "PIF" used to be part of the Army Materiel command, but it's part of the Army's new Futures Command. That's exciting stuff. "because you get to be on the front end of prototyping new solutions for soldiers, and warfighters downrange, and even on the home front," said Herren.
That, of course, is a futures thing, and getting ready for that is part of what Yulista does. The company also works hard to keep today's equipment working too.
The Army Aviation Association of America event is happening soon at the Von Braun Center. The Joseph P. Cribbins Aviation Product Sustainment Symposium is set for the 20th and 21st of November. Yulista will be right in the middle of that.