Breakthrough Air Force Capabilities Spawned By Basic Research

摘要

For over 50 years, the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has produced major scientific discoveries that have led to the creation and development of revolutionary capabilities for the Air Force. These scientific discoveries have laid the ground work for the technological innovation that has created the superior air and space force that is the modern U.S. Air Force. A continued robust investment in basic research will lead to capabilities that have the potential to reshape Air Force thinking, doctrine and operations in the future. Two key Air Force strategy documents, 'The U.S. Air Force Transformation Flight Plan 2004' and 'The U.S. Air Force Posture Statement 2006,' have pointed out the importance of a robust science and technology (S&T) investment in achieving the future capabilities needed to meet a wide range of conventional and asymmetric threats. The 2006 Posture Statement adds the critical area of cyberspace to the more established Air Force mission domains of air and space. In response to the new strategic guidance from Air Force leadership, the AFRL, as part of its Integrated Capability-Based Planning Process, has developed eight Focused Long Term Challenges (FLTCs). This paper focuses on those scientific discoveries that have already lead to new capabilities for the Air Force. Section 1 describes three breakthrough technologies that occurred during each of the following decades: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Section 2 describes the development of the Kalman filter in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Section 3 describes the development of the Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL), or airborne laser. Section 4 discusses examples of current AFOSR investments in basic research: autonomous unmanned operators; identifying, tagging, and tracking, including social-cultural modeling and bioluminescence; boundary layers and hypersonics; and cyberspace research/information assurance.