Maneuver Conference 2016 Montage. Photos by Will Rodriguez

Ft Benning, the home to the Army’s Maneuver Center and the Army’s Infantry and Armor branches hosts a yearly conference called the Maneuver Conference.  The conference is an opportunity for vendors to showcase equipment the Army may be interested in as well as an event where the Army’s primary maneuver branches assess themselves, the Army and the role they may play in a future conflict.

This year’s event was held at the post’s headquarters 14-16 September.  There were over 250 vendors present and a couple of thousand soldiers.  There were both outdoor and indoor displays surrounding the building.  I discovered at least three new companies that have developed some fascinating gear that deserve their own stories.  They include Gentex with several new items focused on headgear protection systems, Proxydynamics with a palm sized drone system and Marathon Smart Targets which has developed a robot squad to serve as advanced targets.  You’ll see those articles in the coming days. That said below are some other highlights from the conference…

(To see more on Polaris’s Infantry Squad Truck, Smith & Wesson’s submission for a new Army pistol and Textron’s medium machinegun that’s half the weight of the M240 and more click here.)