UNCOMN Events
Command and Control to Cockpit: Zero Trust, MOSA, and the Future Stack
Test whether command intent can survive the loss of the primary AOC while a long range strike package is airborne.
About
Join us for a half-day mission narrative that builds on our April 23rd workshop, “Code to Cockpit.” The ATO has dropped. The package is airborne. The AOC is in execution. Then the primary AOC begins to degrade.
This interactive workshop walks the room through an AOC-to-AOC continuity event — a COOP / PACE / DDIL exemplar layered onto a thread the room already understands — and exposes the architecture, data, and operator-trust decisions a future AOC weapon system has to get right. MOSA is the test inside those decisions: government-owned interfaces that keep the stack substitutable and sustainable, so a continuity AOC inherits the mission thread, not a vendor’s stack, and so a node, cloud region, or partner can be substituted without rebuilding the weapon system. We will explore what it takes for command intent to survive the loss of the primary AOC, for a continuity AOC to inherit authority with confidence, and for mission-integrated collaboration with Narrow AI to help operators reconcile conflicting sources at the speed of execution.
Agenda — 8 Sessions
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1
0830-0900 | Breakfast and Stage Setter: AOC at the Center of the Air War
Breakfast opens the room.
This stage setter puts the Air Operations Center at the center of the air war.
We frame how command intent is supposed to travel from the AOC to the cockpit.
The rest of the morning tests whether that path still holds when the primary AOC is no longer healthy.
Speaker: Gen (Ret) Mike Minihan
Speaker Bio: Joe Monaco – UNCOMN
During a 25-year career in the Air Force, Joe Monaco served in a variety of key leadership positions and has experience at the group, wing, Major Command, and Combatant Command levels. He led the digital transformation of aging command-and-control systems bringing modern, Airmen-centric, machine-augmented applications to over 13,000 fielded forces.
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2
0900-0930 | The AOC Is Healthy: Authoritative Tasking, Track Data, Operator Confidence
The AOC is still in a sunny-day execution state. Tasking is authoritative, track data is trusted, and operators will say what confidence actually requires when the picture is still clean.
Speaker Bio: Joe Monaco – UNCOMN
During a 25-year career in the Air Force, Joe Monaco served in a variety of key leadership positions and has experience at the group, wing, Major Command, and Combatant Command levels. He led the digital transformation of aging command-and-control systems bringing modern, Airmen-centric, machine-augmented applications to over 13,000 fielded forces.
Speaker Bio: David Herbst – Mattermost Federal
David Herbst is Director of Solutions at Mattermost Federal, where he helps National Security organizations architect and operationalize secure Command and Control workflows for mission-critical environments. With 20+ years working across the DoD and Intelligence Community and an active TS/SCI clearance, David has architected AI/ML platforms and directed major programs from $5M to $17.5B. A former U.S. Army and SOF civilian with tours in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, David brings hard-won operational perspective to every technical challenge.
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3
0930-1000 | When Latency Becomes Operational: Hybrid Cloud, WAN, Trust Threshold
Latency stops being a network metric and becomes an operational fact. Hybrid cloud and Wide Area Network (WAN) paths are on the table. Zero Trust redraws who and what sits inside the perimeter.
The room names the trust threshold at which the AOC can no longer treat the picture as good enough.
Speaker Bio: April Prichard – KBR
April Pritchard is a solution architect with expertise in DevSecOps, System Engineering, and Cybersecurity. She has 25+ years architecting secure “Mission First” infrastructure for USSF and USAF. Throughout her career, she has led cybersecurity across $100+M/year portfolio of 40+ disparate and concurrent projects with various Title 10/ 50 stakeholders. April also earned a MS in Aeronautical Science and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Scrum Master.Speaker Bio: Christian Brechbuhl – Defense Unicorns
A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate with a degree in Computer Science – Cyber Warfare, Christian has spent his career at the intersection of aviation and technology. Over ten years as a C-17 pilot, he saw firsthand how the right software can transform operations — and he never stopped building it. It started with electronic flight bag apps in the cockpit and grew into leading a cloud-based flight scheduling platform deployed on Platform One. From there, he tackled data sharing challenges within AMC’s core command and control program, GDSS, and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in-flight — bringing internet connectivity and server capabilities directly onto aircraft.A lifelong technologist at heart, Christian is driven by the belief that modern software and infrastructure can fundamentally change how we operate. Today, as Director of the Air & Space Portfolio at Defense Unicorns, he brings commercial technology to the mission he loves. -
4
1000-1030 | Planned Break; Facilitator will find natural breaks
A planned break sits in the middle of the morning and continuity lands when we come back.
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5
1030-1100 | AOC Continuity Under COOP / PACE / DDIL: Backup AOC Inherits Authority
The primary AOC is no longer the authority of record. COOP, PACE, and DDIL are the conditions, not slogans. A designated continuity AOC has to inherit the mission thread.
MOSA is how the stack stays substitutable when the node changes.
Speaker Bio: Christian Brechbuhl – Defense Unicorns
A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate with a degree in Computer Science – Cyber Warfare, Christian has spent his career at the intersection of aviation and technology. Over ten years as a C-17 pilot, he saw firsthand how the right software can transform operations — and he never stopped building it. It started with electronic flight bag apps in the cockpit and grew into leading a cloud-based flight scheduling platform deployed on Platform One. From there, he tackled data sharing challenges within AMC’s core command and control program, GDSS, and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in-flight — bringing internet connectivity and server capabilities directly onto aircraft.A lifelong technologist at heart, Christian is driven by the belief that modern software and infrastructure can fundamentally change how we operate. Today, as Director of the Air & Space Portfolio at Defense Unicorns, he brings commercial technology to the mission he loves.Speaker Bio: David Herbst – Mattermost Federal
David Herbst is Director of Solutions at Mattermost Federal, where he helps National Security organizations architect and operationalize secure Command and Control workflows for mission-critical environments. With 20+ years working across the DoD and Intelligence Community and an active TS/SCI clearance, David has architected AI/ML platforms and directed major programs from $5M to $17.5B. A former U.S. Army and SOF civilian with tours in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, David brings hard-won operational perspective to every technical challenge.
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6
1100-1130 | Common Data-Layer Reconciliation and Mission-Integrated Communications
Two AOCs will not see the same picture unless the data layer is reconciled. Communications have to stay inside the mission thread.
The room works the seams where sources conflict.
The future stack has to make those seams visible at the speed of execution.
Speaker Bio: Royce Lippert – UNCOMN
Royce Lippert brings his 24-years of experience in the Air Force leading organizational development, workforce transformation, and mission support initiatives across the logistics enterprise. Drawing on service at the squadron, group, wing, Air Operations Center, and Combatant Command levels, he helped organizations bridge strategy and execution to build agile teams, modernize capabilities, and deliver mission-focused results.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Zac Dennis – ZDEN
Zachary S. Dennis, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CTO of ZDEN Technologies LLC, responsible for Engineering and Manufacturing Development programs, Production programs, Internal Research and Development, and company tools and processes. As ZDEN’s CTO, he oversees technology integration contracts across four different U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft platforms, providing operators with weapons and communications upgrades vital to mission success. Dr. Dennis is accountable for his team and network of subcontractors planning and executing over $50M of DoW contracts. Dr. Dennis brings a unique perspective on how to design aircraft systems so that future upgrades can be completed and sustained outside OEMs for lifecycle risk reduction.
Dr. Dennis previously served as a Program Director at Northrop Grumman, overseeing the upgrade and software sustainment programs for the B-2 Spirit Bomber. Prior to that position, Dr. Dennis was the Senior Program Manager for B-2 Software Sustainment, where he was responsible for B-2 software and hardware updates and management of the System Integration Labs at Tinker Air Force Base. Dr. Dennis was responsible for customer engagement for Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, FL, and was a technical lead for open architecture management programs integrating MOSA-aligned architectures across a number of aircraft platforms.
Speaker Bio: David Herbst – Mattermost Federal
David Herbst is Director of Solutions at Mattermost Federal, where he helps National Security organizations architect and operationalize secure Command and Control workflows for mission-critical environments. With 20+ years working across the DoD and Intelligence Community and an active TS/SCI clearance, David has architected AI/ML platforms and directed major programs from $5M to $17.5B. A former U.S. Army and SOF civilian with tours in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, David brings hard-won operational perspective to every technical challenge.
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7
1130-1200 | Human-in-the-Loop for Mission Continuity: (618th Thread / AMPLIFI Demo)
Machines can propose but people still approve.
This session uses a global Air Operations Center mission thread. An AI-Powered mission re-planning tool to demonstrate how to keep a human in the loop. The planner has to stay able to change the plan after the package is airborne.
Mission continuity fails if approval cannot keep up with the fight.
Speaker Bio: Royce Lippert – UNCOMN
Royce Lippert brings his 24-years of experience in the Air Force leading organizational development, workforce transformation, and mission support initiatives across the logistics enterprise. Drawing on service at the squadron, group, wing, Air Operations Center, and Combatant Command levels, he helped organizations bridge strategy and execution to build agile teams, modernize capabilities, and deliver mission-focused results.
Speaker Bio: David Herbst – Mattermost Federal
David Herbst is Director of Solutions at Mattermost Federal, where he helps National Security organizations architect and operationalize secure Command and Control workflows for mission-critical environments. With 20+ years working across the DoD and Intelligence Community and an active TS/SCI clearance, David has architected AI/ML platforms and directed major programs from $5M to $17.5B. A former U.S. Army and SOF civilian with tours in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, David brings hard-won operational perspective to every technical challenge.
Speaker Bio: Connor Barnsley – UNCOMN
Connor is a Data Engineer at UNCOMN, building auditable AI-powered pipelines and mission planning tools for defense applications. He previously built ETL infrastructure for the US Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 and researched offline reinforcement learning and multimodal ML at Purdue. His work focuses on keeping AI systems traceable and explainable so humans stay in control of final decisions.
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8
1200-1230 | Implications for PMO/PAE · Q&A Lunch
Lunch is available.
We turn the morning into implications for the Program Management Office (PMO) and PAE. What has to be true in the next increment of the weapon system?
The floor is open for questions and answers.
Speaker Bio: Royce Lippert – UNCOMN
Royce Lippert brings his 24-years of experience in the Air Force leading organizational development, workforce transformation, and mission support initiatives across the logistics enterprise. Drawing on service at the squadron, group, wing, Air Operations Center, and Combatant Command levels, he helped organizations bridge strategy and execution to build agile teams, modernize capabilities, and deliver mission-focused results.
April Pritchard is a solution architect with expertise in DevSecOps, System Engineering, and Cybersecurity. She has 25+ years architecting secure “Mission First” infrastructure for USSF and USAF. Throughout her career, she has led cybersecurity across $100+M/year portfolio of 40+ disparate and concurrent projects with various Title 10/ 50 stakeholders. April also earned a MS in Aeronautical Science and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Scrum Master.
A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate with a degree in Computer Science – Cyber Warfare, Christian has spent his career at the intersection of aviation and technology. Over ten years as a C-17 pilot, he saw firsthand how the right software can transform operations — and he never stopped building it. It started with electronic flight bag apps in the cockpit and grew into leading a cloud-based flight scheduling platform deployed on Platform One. From there, he tackled data sharing challenges within AMC’s core command and control program, GDSS, and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in-flight — bringing internet connectivity and server capabilities directly onto aircraft.A lifelong technologist at heart, Christian is driven by the belief that modern software and infrastructure can fundamentally change how we operate. Today, as Director of the Air & Space Portfolio at Defense Unicorns, he brings commercial technology to the mission he loves.
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