The U.S. Air Force Rearch Laboratory
and Programs for International Cooperation
Dr. M.S. MAURICE
Director, International Office
Air Force Office of Scientific Rearch
一日的春光Air Force Rearch Laboratory
4040 Fairfax Dr., Ste. 500
Arlington, VA 22203
Ph: +1-703-588-1772 Fax: +1-703-588-1785 Email: mark.maurice@afosr.af.mil
Abstract
The U.S. Air Force established the Air Force Rearch Laboratory (AFRL) in October 1997 to consoli
date its science and technology (S&T) needs within a single entity. The AFRL, headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, consists of the Air Force Office of Scientific Rearch (AFOSR) and nine Technology Directorates (TDs) throughout various locations in the U.S. The Laboratory employs approximately 5,700 civilian and military personnel, and invests nearly $2.5 billion annually within the TDs, academia, and industry, pursuing basic rearch, applied rearch, and advanced technology development. Despite the size of this investment, AFRL recognizes that world class S&T exists worldwide. Conquently, the Laboratory strives to infu international S&T into its programs, and to leverage its resources with the investments of friends and allies. Two overas detachments (located in Europe and Asia) and two domestic offices within AFRL spearhead this effort, and u veral programs and strategies to identify and develop international opportunities. The aim of this paper is to describe the programs in detail, and to invite both government and non-government organizations to propo project areas that are of mutual interest and could lead to mutual benefit.
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Introduction
In January 1939, Major General Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Corps stated: 1
干锅豆腐宽敞的英语“All of us in the Army Air Corps realize that America owes its prent prestige and standing in the air
world in large measure to the money, time, and effort expended in aeronautical experimentation and rearch. We know that our future supremacy in the air depends upon the brains and efforts of our engineers.”
Only a few years earlier, the American aircraft industry was still in its infancy, and the Army Air Corps was struggling just to acquire planes. MGen Arnold, however, visualized a much larger role for air power with a strong foundation in S&T that included not only the military, but also the best that universities, industry, and civil aviation had to offer. In 1937 he addresd the Western Aviation Planning Conference and stated:
“Remember that the ed comes first; if you are to reap a harvest of aeronautical development, you must plant the ed called experimental rearch. Install aeronautical branches in your universities; encourage your young men to take up aeronautical engineering. It is a new field, but it is likely to prove a very productive one indeed. Spend all the funds you can possibly make available on experimentation and rearch. Next, do not visualize aviation as merely a collection of airplanes. It is broad and far reaching. It combines manufacture, schools, transportation, airdrome, building and management, air
munitions and armaments, metallurgy, mills and mines, finance and banking, and finally, public curity-national defen.”
Not only did MGen Arnold’s prophecies prove true more than 60 years ago, but they remain relevant to the technological advantage of the U.S. Air Force today. Nearly 80% of Air Force funded S&T is done by universities and industry, and the Air Force funds not only S&T for short term and medium term evolutionary applications, but also engages in S&T for the revolutionary breakthroughs of the future.
The Air Force Rearch Laboratory
Prior to 1990, there were more than 20 Air Force laboratories and offices engaged in S&T. At Wright-Patterson Air Force Ba, Ohio, for example, there was the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Propulsion & Power Laboratory, Avionics Laboratory, and Materials & Manufacturing Laboratory. Each of the laboratories had their own Commander and Staff, and dealt independently with the ur, even though weapons systems were increasingly reliant on multidisciplinary design and optimization. Conquently, the Air Force streamlined its laboratories into four “Super Labs”. Wright Laboratory, headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, became the center for fixed wing aircraft technologies. Philli
ps Laboratory, Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, became the center for space related S&T. Brooks Laboratory, at Brooks AFB, Texas, became the center for human effectiveness S&T, and Rome Laboratory, at Rome AFB, New York, became the S&T center for information technologies.
精准扶贫政策Although this new structure was well suited to meet the multidisciplinary needs of S&T programs at the time, the sudden end of the Cold War led to a re-evaluation of priorities, potential adversaries, and cooperative relationships. The U.S. scrutinized the costs of next generation weapon systems in areas where the Air Force already had leading edge technologies, and the country looked for a “peace dividend” savings in defen spending. Conquently, the Air Force needed to re-evaluate its role, and think beyond traditional evolutionary programs.
To accomplish this, the Air Force re-organized into one single laboratory with the goal of transforming the Air Force into an Air and Space Force, and then to a Space and Air Force. The Air Force Rearch Laboratory2
5,700 people, and is re-
蚂蚁习性sponsible for planning and
executing nearly $1.3 billion
annually in Air Force S&T
funds, as well as an additional
$1.1 billion received by other
customers of Air Force
technologies. This budget
includes basic rearch, de-
fined as “6.1”, applied re-
arch (6.2), and advanced
technology development (6.3). As shown in Fig. 1, 6.1 through 6.3 define the range of S&T. Once a technology has matured beyond advanced technology development, System Program Offices manage further engineering and manufacturing development (E&MD). The distribution of Air Force S&T investment is approximately 13% for 6.1, 42% for 6.2, and 45% for 6.3.
The Air Force Rearch Laboratory compris nine technology directorates (TDs), and a tenth directorate, the Air Force Office of Scientific Rearch (AFOSR). As shown in Fig. 2, AFRL receives programmatic direction from the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition), while the
Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) hous its infrastructure. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio rves
as the Headquarters of AFRL, along with five of its ten directorates. As shown in Fig. 3, the laboratory is located in veral different locations.
Fig. 2 Air Force Rearch Laboratory Structure
AFOSR was elevated to the status of a parate center in 1955 to plan, formulate, initiate and manage all Air Force basic rearch. AFOSR, the single manager of Air Force basic rearch, inves
财务科工作总结ts approximately 70% of its Air Force funds in about 300 academic institutions; the nine technology
directorates (20%) and industry (10%) conduct the remainder of AFOSR’s programs. AFOSR’s headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia. It is also home to the AFRL International Office, as well as two overas detachments in Europe and Asia that invest in international rearch opportunities.
Air Vehicles Directorate4 (AFRL/VA) – Headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, AFRL/VA focus on the core technologies of aeronautical sciences, control sciences, structures, and integration, for applications of hypersonic and long range strike next generation aerospace vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft sustainment.
Directed Energy Directorate5 (AFRL/DE) – Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, AFRL/DE focus on high power microwave technology, lar devices and applications, and lar beam control and optics such as compensation/beam control techniques.
Human Effectiveness Directorate6 (AFRL/HE) – Headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, AFRL/HE develops technologies to enhance, train, protect, and sustain the warrior. Their core technology areas include warfighter skill development and training, training simulation, information display and decision support, crew system design technologies, directed energy bioeffects, toxic haz
ards effects, crew protection, and logistician effectiveness.
Information Directorate7 (AFRL/IF) – Headquartered at Rome, New York, AFRL/IF develops technologies for aerospace command and control, and their transition to air, space, and ground systems. Its focus areas include information fusion and exploitation, communications and networking, collaborative environments, modeling and simulation, defensive information warfare, and intelligent information systems technologies.
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate8 (AFRL/ML) – Headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, AFRL/ML has a wide array of programs for structural and propulsion materials for air and space applications, materials for sustainment and deployment of the aerospace force, lar-hardened materials for nsing and protection of lar threats, and materials for surveillance nsors and power generation applications.
Munitions Directorate9 (AFRL/MN) – Headquartered at Eglin AFB, Florida, AFRL/MN develops S&T for air-launched munitions for defeating ground fixed, and mobile/relocatable, air and space targets. The include ordnance, carriage and relea, guidance and control, and asssment and simulation.
Propulsion Directorate10 (AFRL/PR) – Headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, AFRL/PR develops air and space vehicle propulsion and power technologies. Their focus areas include turbine and rocket engines, advanced propulsion systems, fuels and propellants for all propulsion systems, and most forms of power technology.
Sensors Directorate11 (AFRL/SN) – Head-
quartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio,
AFRL/SN develops nsors for air and space
reconnaissance, surveillance, precision
engagement, and electronic warfare systems.
Its core technology areas include radar,
active and passive electro-optical targeting
systems, navigation aids, automatic target
recognition, nsor fusion, threat warning,
and threat countermeasures.
Space Vehicles Directorate12 (ARFL/VS)
– Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, New
Mexico, AFRL/VS develops technologies Fig. 4 Air Force S&T President’s Budget
for space-bad surveillance, including space power, structures, and electronics, hyperspectral imaging and multi-color nsing, and autonomous systems. In addition, they develop technologies for space capability protection, including passive and active threat mitigation, threat environment modeling, and environmental hazard nsors.
At this time, the President’s Budget for Air Force S&T for fiscal year 2003 is $1.659 billion.Figure 4 shows the distribution of this investment between the AFRL directorates.
International Cooperation 13
Why AFRL Pursues International S&T
Just as MGen Arnold understood that a technologically superior Air Corps would require the best and brightest from all ctors in society, AFRL today recognizes that this must include the international community. International universities, rearch institutes, governments, and industries provide intellectual stimulus with new ideas and innovative approaches. In the former Soviet Union,for example, computational fluid dynamicists did not have access to the supercomputers ud routinely i
n the U.S. But, through a deeper understanding of the physics they were often able to simplify equation ts to achieve the same results on much smaller machines. By working with the Russians after the Cold War to integrate this theoretical understanding with state-of-the-art computational resources, we can now produce calculations thought impossible just a decade ago.
Despite a emingly large S&T budget, it is significantly smaller in real dollars than it was during the Cold War era. Therefore, to maintain rearch infrastructure and technical momentum,AFRL must leverage resources with friends and allies. Conducting projects cooperatively not only leverages AFRL’s investment, but it also improves coalition interoperability, which is a much-needed capability in any modern operation. Conquently, the Department of Defen (DoD) leadership mandates cooperation. DoD Directive 5000.1 tasks all elements of DoD to explore cooperation with allied nations before undertaking new programs.
As shown in Fig. 6, the U.S. does not have a total monopoly in S&T. In this example,between 1998 and 2000, rearchers published approximately 3000 papers on nanotechnology subjects. The U.S. did publish the most by far with nearly 1800 papers, compared
to just over 400 papers for Japan, in cond place.However, the papers from Japan, Germany, U.K., China,France, Russia, and Switzer-
land (shown as the composite bar on the right), total nearly 1200. Conquently, there is ample opportunity for AFRL to cooperate on nanotechnol-ogy S&T, and in fact the U.S.
欢快歌曲
must to cooperate to maintain a leading edge.
When AFRL Pursues International S&T
For AFRL to enter into a cooperative agreement, or to fund rearch overas, it must be in the best interest of the Air Force to do so. In general, any international project must fall into one of four categories:
Total Fig. 5 Published Papers on Nanotechnology, 1998-2000
