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The USS Chosin slips through the San Diego Bay, near the bridge to Coronado, on Feb. 15, 2024, following a modernization period. (Colin Demarest/C4ISRNET)

SAN DIEGO — Some of the world’s largest defense contractors as well as U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leadership converged on the waterfront convention center here for the West conference Feb. 13-15. Reporters with C4ISRNET, Defense News and Navy Times were there as well, chronicling the events and conversation.

From Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro issuing a frank warning to industry to lessons learned from Houthi engagements in the Red Sea, here’s what you may have missed:

The next West conference is scheduled for late January 2025.

Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covers military networks, cyber and IT. Colin previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.