Ground Truth Symposium · March 25, 2026
Symposium Agenda
Washington, D.C. · Invitation Only
Agenda, speakers, and timing remain subject to change.
The Ground Truth Symposium convenes Members of Congress, congressional staff, defense officials, and industry leaders for a direct operational briefing on how modern warfare has already changed — and why that shift matters now for U.S. national security.
On today’s battlefield, drones define detection, decision-making, and strike. Engagement cycles that once took hours now happen in minutes. Survivability depends on minimizing exposure and maximizing unmanned systems. The side that adapts faster and scales faster has the advantage.
At its core, this shift is human: reducing exposure and saving lives by replacing risk with machines.
Panel speakers are military officers from the 429th UAV Brigade “Achilles”, Azov, and the Lazar Group. The names of the military officers taking part in the symposium are classified and will not be disclosed.
Opening remarks will frame the purpose of the symposium and explain why direct frontline insight is essential for informed policy and defense planning. The session will establish why ground truth from the modern battlefield must inform U.S. congressional understanding, procurement decisions, and strategic planning and why the lessons from Ukraine are directly relevant to U.S. national security today.
Lito is a U.S. Air Force veteran, engineer, entrepreneur, and recognized expert in unmanned aerial systems. His background includes three deployments to Afghanistan, including service with a Special Missions Unit inside Joint Special Operations Command. Over the past four years in Ukraine, he has worked side by side with Ukrainian counterparts at both the strategic and tactical levels, helping establish joint communications standards and leading a small Ukrainian drone team. As keynote speaker, Lito will establish the operational context for the day — how modern combat is unfolding, what has already changed on the battlefield, and why traditional assumptions about force structure, training, and doctrine no longer apply.
This segment connects battlefield reality in Ukraine to broader strategic implications for U.S. national security. Drawing on the operational lessons of the war, Bill Cole and Alik Kasman will examine why battlefield outcomes matter to American interests, how the pace of adaptation determines outcomes, and why speed and resource alignment are central to changing the course of the conflict. The discussion will emphasize that the technological and doctrinal shifts driving this war are not emerging — they have already arrived, and they are reshaping the balance of advantage in ways that demand a clear-eyed U.S. response.
This panel places the audience inside the modern battlefield as experienced by Ukrainian forces operating today. Frontline commanders will describe what it means to operate under constant drone surveillance, where exposure for even a few minutes can be fatal and movement decisions are shaped entirely by the threat of immediate engagement. Speakers will explain how drones and electronic warfare have become the defining variables of modern combat — shaping not just tactics, but how units move, communicate, make decisions, and survive. The engagement cycles, adaptations, and human realities described in this panel reflect the battlefield that U.S. forces and partners must understand and prepare for.
This session examines the integrated system behind modern drone warfare — how detection, targeting, strike, and electronic countermeasures operate together as a continuous loop rather than separate functions. Speakers will explain how drone threats have evolved from individual platforms into layered, adaptive systems that demand equally integrated defensive responses. The discussion will address the practical challenges of defending against high volumes of fast, low-cost, and continuously evolving drone threats at scale, including lessons on layered defense, interception economics, and the resilience requirements that determine whether defensive systems can sustain under sustained attack.
Networking and transition break
Drawing on his experience as a frontline drone operator, military adviser, and author of Rise of the Machines: Drone Warfare in the Russia–Ukraine War, Ilya Sekirin will examine how drones have moved from a supporting capability to a central instrument of modern warfare. He will explain how unmanned systems are reshaping the battlefield, altering the balance between offense and defense, and forcing militaries to rethink doctrine, force structure, procurement, and deterrence. His remarks will address what it takes — operationally, industrially, and strategically — to win and bring the war to an end, and why these lessons matter not only for Ukraine but for the United States and its partners.
This panel examines what separates effective forces from those that fall behind: the ability to adapt continuously, learn rapidly from battlefield results, and scale solutions before the adversary can counter them. Speakers will discuss how Ukrainian units have built feedback loops between frontline operators and production, how tactics evolve in days rather than months, and what organizational and industrial conditions enable this pace of adaptation. The discussion will also address the barriers that prevent successful models from scaling and what must change to replicate battlefield successes at the speed and volume modern warfare demands.
This panel draws direct connections between what is happening on the battlefield today and the immediate decisions facing U.S. policymakers. Speakers will address what it means for the United States when a peer adversary is being tested, degraded, and contested at scale in real time and what the results reveal about force structure, procurement, and deterrence requirements. The discussion will cover resource allocation priorities, the urgency of scaling drone capabilities, the expanding battlefield environment, and emerging risks that extend beyond Ukraine to broader global security implications.
This fireside conversation will explore the industrial and financial dimension of modern warfare — what it takes to produce, sustain, and scale drone capabilities at the pace the battlefield demands. Speakers will examine production capacity constraints, supply chain realities, and the capital and investment pathways needed to bridge the gap between operational need and industrial output. The discussion will address how U.S. and allied industry must align with battlefield requirements and what stands in the way of scaling the capabilities that are already proving decisive.
The symposium will conclude with a direct synthesis of the day's major lessons for U.S. lawmakers, staff, defense leaders, and industry. Rather than a general summary, this closing segment will focus on what must change, specifically and immediately, in U.S. doctrine, procurement, training, force structure, and security assistance. Drawing on the full day's operational insight, the closing will translate frontline reality into a clear set of implications for the decisions that U.S. policymakers and defense leaders face now.