WEBVTT

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We have to get ahead . We can't be

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behind our adversaries . We have to

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train with and be prepared for national

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disasters , whether that's manmade or

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natural . Today we're doing an exercise

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called Exercise Thunderstruck 2.0 , and

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we are showcasing the work we've done

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over the past couple of years for

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Oklahoma National Guard UAS counter UAS

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program . We're out here today at the

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Oklahoma National Guard conducting

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really a kind of a one of a kind

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advanced implementation of drone

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warfare . We found looking at modern

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warfare , for instance , in Ukraine ,

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they're using tens of thousands of

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small first person FPV drones , and I

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need to make sure that my soldiers are

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aware of this threat and that we can

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develop the technologies . the

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procedures to counter that threat . The

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Secretary of War Hegseth has put

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forward an initiative . He's told the

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Army to go forth and do this kind of

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training . We were lucky we had this

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plan for more than a year , so we're

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one of the first ones to execute this

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type of training ever . The beginning

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of the UAS program was an idea and

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conversation when we saw what was

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happening in Ukraine and Russia , and

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thoughts started happening ,

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discussions started happening . And

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then collaboration happened with

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Oklahoma State , OU , Southwestern ,

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Tulsa , all the academic partners that

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we have , and then industry and then

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military and government and finally the

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state of Oklahoma . It's all coming

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together and that's what you see for

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Exercise Thunderstruck as we continue

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to evolve , we're going to continue to

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work on those problems . In Oklahoma in

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the National Guard and partnership with

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Governor Ste and the legislature ,

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they've been extremely supportive of

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this effort . We're able to put

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together a kind of a leading laboratory

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for some of these techniques ,

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technologies that you see out here with

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our partners , and that really lets us

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see on a simulated battlefield what

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works and what doesn't work before we

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have to put our soldiers into harm's

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way . This is the new normal , not only

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for the war fight but also for domestic

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operations here in the state of

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Oklahoma and the future depends on us

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training now before we get there .