IEEE MILCOM 2021 Welcome Letter

It's our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2021 IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) & AFCEA International Military Communications Conference (MILCOM). We are pleased to offer the conference in person, after last year's cancellation due to the global pandemic. This event is a critical forum for discussing ideas, needs, and research for the future of military communications.

This year's MILCOM focuses on the dual themes of enabling all-domain command and control as well as the significant shift in military communications to leverage commercial capabilities in the areas of 5G and proliferated low earth orbit satellites. Each of these topics will be explored as part of our plenary program of keynotes and panels. Technical sessions, tutorials, and session panels will dive into much greater detail.

This year marks the return of the classified and restricted sessions, which historically have been one of the few venues for discussing the more sensitive research happening in military communications. In addition to a restricted paper session, we have a day of classified keynotes and panels across Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2); Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3); 5G; and Cyber. Each session has distinguished speakers from industry and government discussing some of the key operational and technical challenges faced in each area.

Our program of technical papers is outstanding, with over 350 papers submitted for peer review, and a robust set of papers selected for publication and presentation across several technical tracks. Additionally, there are 10 tutorials and 12 technical panels that will be part of a rich discussion of the future of military communications.

We would like to thank the organizing committee for their hard work in developing the program, including Niranjan Suri, Christine Zhang, Tom Halford, John Shea, Mike Kurdziel, Harold Zheng, Bryan Cooley, Debra Emmons, Bill Semancik, Bonnie Gorsic, Wayne Phoel, Jerry Brand, Bharat Doshi and Sal D'Itri. Additionally, the ComSoc and AFCEA staff have been critical for planning and execution, including Melissa Torres, Kristine Chin, and Tammy Goehring. Lastly, the energy and focus for MILCOM this year was truly led by ComSoc President Vincent Chan and MILCOM Board Chairman Tom Macdonald.

Lastly, a hearty "thank you" to our sponsors for their trust and generous support. Their contributions are a strong demonstration of the value MILCOM represents in a truly cross-cutting way to government, industry, and academia.

We hope you enjoy MILCOM and we look forward to seeing you in San Diego, California!

Charles Clancy and Joe Evans IEEE/AFCEA MILCOM 2021 General Co-Chairs