Science and Technology and the Air Force Vision: Achieving a More Effective S & T Program PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
There are considerable on-going efforts within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to improve the science and technology (S & T) program. Each year the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) conducts independent quality reviews within the labs. The reviews assess the quality and long-term relevance of the Air Force S & T program. Quality here is broadly defined to include science, people, strategy, resources, focus, facilities, and results. These reviews clearly indicate that the quality of the S & T program is improving and most of the projects are well focused on future Air Force capabilities. However, based on extensive benchmarking, it is also apparent that a more effective S & T program can be achieved. This Study offers recommendations that apply both internally and externally to AFRL. The members of this Study team strongly urge that these recommendations be adopted.

Author: Office of Office of the United States Air Force
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781499283914
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Technology Horizons: A Vision for Air Force Science and Technology 2010-30 concentrates on key science and technology focus areas for the US Air Force over the next two decades that will provide technologically achievable capabilities enabling the Air Force to gain the greatest us joint force effectiveness in 2030 and beyond. Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction * Chapter 2: Strategic Context for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 3: Enduring Realities for the Air Force 2010-30 * Chapter 4: Overarching Themes for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 5: Technology-Enabled Capabilities for the Air Force 2010-30 * Chapter 6: Key Technology Areas 2010-30 * Chapter 7: Grand Challenges for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 8: Summary of Technology Horizons Vision * Chapter 9: Implementation Plan and Recommendations Technology Horizons is our vision for key Air Force science and technology investments over the next decade that will provide us with truly game-changing capabilities to meet our strategic and joint force responsibilities. The coming decades hold high promise for amazing new capabilities across the air, space, and cyber domains. Yet the Air Force and our nation will also be confronted with substantial strategic, technology, and budget challenges. Our greatest advances will come with a focused investment of resources in the most promising technologies. The vision in Technology Horizons provides the shared awareness of the challenges and opportunities that will enable us to achieve this focus. Technology Horizons presents a clearly articulated and credible assessment of the strategic environment and enduring realities we face. It outlines a set of overarching themes that defines attributes our future Air Force systems will need to prevail. New technology-enabled capabilities are envisioned that meet key needs, including long-range strike, deterrence tools, cyber resilience, energy efficiency, and automation and enhanced human-machine interfaces, to help our most valuable asset-our Airmen-be even more effective than today. We believe the Air Force must boldly move forward to advance these technologies through the dedicated, creative, and focused efforts of our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. The future is ours to shape. To implement this vision, we are concentrating a meaningful portion of our Air Force Research Laboratory effort on the identified key technologies. We will move forward in pursuing "grand challenges" that will help achieve militarily useful capabilities. We will work closely with our partners across the Department of Defense, government, industry, academia, and allied nations to leverage the best intellectual capital and facilities in pursuit of the most promising ideas. And we will sustain our focus on these science and technology efforts to maximize their likelihood of being transitioned into operational capabilities meeting Air Force needs. We firmly believe that maintaining our technical and operational superiority in this manner is both necessary and attainable. Therefore, we encourage all Airmen-indeed all warriors and our other national and international partners-to read Technology Horizons and seriously contemplate the trans-formative opportunities that technology can enable in the coming decades. We call on you as Airmen to contribute your intellectual energy to developing new frameworks and novel concepts of operations to take maximum advantage of these coming technologies. These are challenging times, but we have no doubt that America's Airmen will overcome the challenges we face to provide the critical capability advances needed to ensure the United States Air Force remains the world's premier air force through 2030 and beyond.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030908895X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Under mandate of Section 253, Study and Report on Effectiveness of Air Force Science and Technology Program Changes, of the Fiscal Year 2002 National Defense Authorization Act, the U.S. Air Force contracted with the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct the present study. In response, the NRC established the Committee on Review of the Effectiveness of Air Force Science and Technology Program Changes-composed of academics, active and retired industry executives, former Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) civilian executives, and retired general officers with acquisition and science and technology (S&T) backgrounds. The committee was to review the effectiveness of the Air Force S&T program and, in particular, the actions that the Air Force has taken to improve the management of the program in recent years in response to concerns voiced in numerous study reports and by Congress. The committee's principal charter was to assess whether, as a whole, the changes put in place by the Air Force since 1999 are sufficient to assure that adequate technology will be available to ensure U.S. military superiority. The committee conducted four open meetings to collect information from the Air Force and its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), the U.S Navy, the U.S. Army, and DoD. A great many factors influence any judgment of the S&T program's sufficiency in supporting future warfighter needs; these factors include threat assessment, budget constraints, technology opportunities, workforce, and program content. Given the relatively short time available for this study and considering the detailed reviews conducted annually by the SAB, the technical content of the S&T program was necessarily beyond the committee's purview. Rather, the committee focused on S&T management, including areas that have been studied many times, in depth, by previous advisory groups. Besides addressing technical content, those prior studies and congressional concerns highlighted four overarching S&T issues: advocacy and visibility, planning, workforce, and investment levels. In response, the Air Force instituted changes in S&T management. The NRC is requested to conduct a study to determine how changes to the Air Force science and technology program implemented during the past two years affect the future capabilities of the Air Force. Effectiveness of Air Force Science and Technology Program Changes reviews and assess whether such changes as a whole are sufficient to ensure the following: A. That concerns about the management of the science and technology program that have been raised by the Congress, the Defense Science Board, the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, and the Air Force Association have been adequately addressed. B. That appropriate and sufficient technology is available to ensure the military superiority of the United States and counter future high-risk threats. C. That the science and technology investments are balanced to meet near-, mid-, and long-term needs of the Air Force. D. That the Air Force organizational structure provides for a sufficiently senior level advocate of science and technology to ensure an ongoing, effective presence of the science and technology community during the budget and planning process. This report also assess the specific changes to the Air Force science and technology program as whether the biannual science and technology summits provide sufficient visibility into, and understanding and appreciation of, the value of the science and technology program to the senior level of Air Force budget and policy decision makers.

Author: U. S. Military
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781521160336
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Technology Horizons: A Vision for Air Force Science and Technology 2010-30 concentrates on key science and technology focus areas for the US Air Force over the next two decades that will provide technologically achievable capabilities enabling the Air Force to gain the greatest us joint force effectiveness in 2030 and beyond. Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction * Chapter 2: Strategic Context for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 3: Enduring Realities for the Air Force 2010-30 * Chapter 4: Overarching Themes for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 5: Technology-Enabled Capabilities for the Air Force 2010-30 * Chapter 6: Key Technology Areas 2010-30 * Chapter 7: Grand Challenges for Air Force S&T 2010-30 * Chapter 8: Summary of Technology Horizons Vision * Chapter 9: Implementation Plan and Recommendations Technology Horizons is our vision for key Air Force science and technology investments over the next decade that will provide us with truly game-changing capabilities to meet our strategic and joint force responsibilities. The coming decades hold high promise for amazing new capabilities across the air, space, and cyber domains. Yet the Air Force and our nation will also be confronted with substantial strategic, technology, and budget challenges. Our greatest advances will come with a focused investment of resources in the most promising technologies. The vision in Technology Horizons provides the shared awareness of the challenges and opportunities that will enable us to achieve this focus. Technology Horizons presents a clearly articulated and credible assessment of the strategic environment and enduring realities we face. It outlines a set of overarching themes that defines attributes our future Air Force systems will need to prevail. New technology-enabled capabilities are envisioned that meet key needs, including long-range strike, deterrence tools, cyber resilience, energy efficiency, and automation and enhanced human-machine interfaces, to help our most valuable asset-our Airmen-be even more effective than today. We believe the Air Force must boldly move forward to advance these technologies through the dedicated, creative, and focused efforts of our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. The future is ours to shape. To implement this vision, we are concentrating a meaningful portion of our Air Force Research Laboratory effort on the identified key technologies. We will move forward in pursuing "grand challenges" that will help achieve militarily useful capabilities. We will work closely with our partners across the Department of Defense, government, industry, academia, and allied nations to leverage the best intellectual capital and facilities in pursuit of the most promising ideas. And we will sustain our focus on these science and technology efforts to maximize their likelihood of being transitioned into operational capabilities meeting Air Force needs. We firmly believe that maintaining our technical and operational superiority in this manner is both necessary and attainable. Therefore, we encourage all Airmen-indeed all warriors and our other national and international partners-to read Technology Horizons and seriously contemplate the transformative opportunities that technology can enable in the coming decades. We call on you as Airmen to contribute your intellectual energy to developing new frameworks and novel concepts of operations to take maximum advantage of these coming technologies. These are challenging times, but we have no doubt that America's Airmen will overcome the challenges we face to provide the critical capability advances needed to ensure the United States Air Force remains the world's premier air force through 2030 and beyond.

Author: Stephen B. Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description

Author: United States. Air Force. Chief Scientist's Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description

Author: Greg Zacharias
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781092834346
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Dr. Greg Zacharias, former Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force (2015-18), explores next steps in autonomous systems (AS) development, fielding, and training. Rapid advances in AS development and artificial intelligence (AI) research will change how we think about machines, whether they are individual vehicle platforms or networked enterprises. The payoff will be considerable, affording the US military significant protection for aviators, greater effectiveness in employment, and unlimited opportunities for novel and disruptive concepts of operations. Autonomous Horizons: The Way Forward identifies issues and makes recommendations for the Air Force to take full advantage of this transformational technology.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309076080
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
Since the mid-1940s, when Vannevar Bush and Theodore von Karman wrote Science, the Endless Frontier and Toward New Horizons, respectively, there has been a consensus that strong Department of Defense support of science and technology (S&T) is important to the security of the United States. During the Cold War, as it faced technologically capable adversaries whose forces potentially outnumbered U.S. forces, the United States relied on a strong defense S&T program to support the development of technologically superior weapons and systems that would enable it to prevail in the event of conflict. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has relied on its technological superiority to maintain a military advantage while at the same time reducing the size of its forces. Over the past half-century, creating and maintaining a technologically superior military capability have become fundamental to U.S. national security strategy, and investment in S&T has become a basic component of the defense budget. In late 1998, Congress asked the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study, in cooperation with the National Research Council (NRC), on the S&T base of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Congress was particularly concerned about areas of the S&T program related to air systems, space systems, and supporting information systems. Its concern was based on the Air Force's reduction of its S&T program from the largest of the three military service programs to the smallest. Congress also wanted to ensure that the Air Force maintained an appropriately sized S&T workforce. In late 1999, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology asked the NRC to conduct a study to explore these issues.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309177014
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
The Air Force requires technical skills and expertise across the entire range of activities and processes associated with the development, fielding, and employment of air, space, and cyber operational capabilities. The growing complexity of both traditional and emerging missions is placing new demands on education, training, career development, system acquisition, platform sustainment, and development of operational systems. While in the past the Air Force's technologically intensive mission has been highly attractive to individuals educated in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, force reductions, ongoing military operations, and budget pressures are creating new challenges for attracting and managing personnel with the needed technical skills. Assessments of recent development and acquisition process failures have identified a loss of technical competence within the Air Force (that is, in house or organic competence, as opposed to contractor support) as an underlying problem. These challenges come at a time of increased competition for technical graduates who are U.S. citizens, an aging industry and government workforce, and consolidations of the industrial base that supports military systems. In response to a request from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology, and Engineering, the National Research Council conducted five fact-finding meetings at which senior Air Force commanders in the science and engineering, acquisition, test, operations, and logistics domains provided assessments of the adequacy of the current workforce in terms of quality and quantity.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030921520X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The ability of the United States Air Force (USAF) to keep its aircraft operating at an acceptable operational tempo, in wartime and in peacetime, has been important to the Air Force since its inception. This is a much larger issue for the Air Force today, having effectively been at war for 20 years, with its aircraft becoming increasingly more expensive to operate and maintain and with military budgets certain to further decrease. The enormously complex Air Force weapon system sustainment enterprise is currently constrained on many sides by laws, policies, regulations and procedures, relationships, and organizational issues emanating from Congress, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Air Force itself. Against the back-drop of these stark realities, the Air Force requested the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies, under the auspices of the Air Force Studies Board to conduct and in-depth assessment of current and future Air Force weapon system sustainment initiatives and recommended future courses of action for consideration by the Air Force. Examination of the U.S. Air Force's Aircraft Sustainment Needs in the Future and Its Strategy to Meet Those Needs addresses the following topics: Assess current sustainment investments, infrastructure, and processes for adequacy in sustaining aging legacy systems and their support equipment. Determine if any modifications in policy are required and, if so, identify them and make recommendations for changes in Air Force regulations, policies, and strategies to accomplish the sustainment goals of the Air Force. Determine if any modifications in technology efforts are required and, if so, identify them and make recommendations regarding the technology efforts that should be pursued because they could make positive impacts on the sustainment of the current and future systems and equipment of the Air Force. Determine if the Air Logistics Centers have the necessary resources (funding, manpower, skill sets, and technologies) and are equipped and organized to sustain legacy systems and equipment and the Air Force of tomorrow. Identify and make recommendations regarding incorporating sustainability into future aircraft designs.