Air Force Research Laboratory

Air Force Research Laboratory

Established:	October, 1997
Commander:	Maj Gen Curtis Bedke
Vice-Commander:	Col David Glade
US Military Budget:	$2.4 billion (2006)
Employees:	4,200 civilian 1,200 military (2006)

The United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force dedicated to the development of warfighting technologies. The AFRL headquarters is at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Mission Statement

AFRL's published mission statement is:

AFRL's mission is leading the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for America's aerospace forces. It is a full-spectrum laboratory, responsible for planning and executing the Air Force' science and technology program. AFRL leads a worldwide government, industry and academia partnership in the discovery, development and delivery of a wide range of revolutionary technology. The laboratory provides leading-edge warfighting capabilities keeping our air, space and cyberspace forces the world's best.

History

The laboratory was created in October 1997 through the consolidation of four former Air Force laboratories and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The originating laboratories were the Phillips Laboratory headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, Rome Laboratory in Rome, New York, and Armstrong Laboratory in San Antonio, Texas.

The History Office of the AFRL is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The History Directorate is under the jurisdiction of the AFRL HQ. It employs three full time historians, an archivist, and a number of interns. The archives contain lab histories as well as histories of Wright-Patterson lab facilities.

Directorates

AFRL sites

The laboratory is divided into 8 Technical Directorates, one wing, and the Office of Scientific Research based on different areas of research. AFOSR is primarily a funding body for external research while the other directorates perform research in-house or under contract to external entities.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research

• Arlington, Virginia
• London, United Kingdom
• Tokyo, Japan

AFRL's contribution to research is "by investing in basic research efforts for the Air Force in relevant scientific areas." This is done with private industry and academia, as well as with organizations in the United States Department of Defense and AFRL.

AFOSR's research is organized into three scientific directorates: the Aerospace, Chemical, and Material Sciences Directorate, the Mathematics, Information, and Life Sciences Directorate, and the Physics and Electronics Directorate. Each directorate funds research activities which it believes will enable the technological superiority of the USAF.

AFOSR also maintains two foreign technology offices located in the UK and Japan. These overseas offices coordinate with the international scientific and engineering community to allow for better collaboration between the community and Air Force personnel.

Air Vehicles Directorate

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

Martin-Marietta X-24B

The Air Vehicles Directorate's vision is on "technology investments that support cost-effective, survivable aerospace vehicles capable of accurate and quick delivery of a variety of future weapons or cargo anywhere in the world."

The Air Vehicles Directorate has previously collaborated with NASA in the X-24 project to research concepts associated with lifting body type aircraft which contributed to the development of the Space Shuttle's unpowered re-entry and landing technique. More recently, the Directorate has initiated the X-53 program in cooperation with NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and Boeing Phantom Works to research ways to make more efficient use of the wing's planform during high-speed maneuvers.

Directed Energy Directorate

• Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
• Maui, Hawaii
• White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

YAL-1 in flight.

The mission of the Directed Energy Directorate is to perform research in the areas of high-energy laser and high-power microwave technologies with a goal of developing new applications for use by the Air Force.

The Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base is operated by a division of the Directed Energy Directorate, as is North Oscura Peak on White Sands Missile Range. The Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing observatory (AMOS) is also managed by the Directed Energy Directorate.

Notable projects worked on by the Directed Energy Directorate include the laser for the Airborne Laser project, now known as the Boeing YAL-1, and the "less-than-lethal" microwave Active Denial System.

711th Human Performance Wing

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Brooks City-Base, San Antonio, Texas
• Mesa Research Site, Mesa, Arizona

In March 2008, the Human Effectiveness Directorate was merged with the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine and the Human Performance Integration Directorate to form the 711th Human Performance Wing. In its vision statement, the Directorate includes the goals of "integrating personnel with systems technology," and "protecting the force." Towards fulfilling those goals, the 711th HPW performs research to "define human capabilities, vulnerabilities, and effectiveness." One practical application of its work is ensuring the safety of ejection systems for pilots, and it has been working to protect airmen since 1931. Advanced manikins equipped with numerous sensors are used to establish injury thresholds and stress tolerances necessary for the design and implementation of aircraft and their systems. With the increasing number of females in the Air Force ranks, anthropometry is of greater import now than ever, and 711th's WB-4 'whole-body scanner' enables swift and accurate acquisition of anthropometric data which may be used to design pilot equipment with a better fit for comfort and safety.

Information Directorate

• Rome Research Site, Rome, New York

The mission of the Information Directorate is "to lead the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting information technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force."

Materials and Manufacturing Directorate

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida

The AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate develops materials, processes, and advanced manufacturing technologies for aerospace systems and their components.

Munitions Directorate

• Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

AFRL's Munitions Directorate develops conventional munition technologies to provide the Air Force with a strong technology base upon which future precision air-delivered conventional munitions are developed to neutralize potential threats to the United States. With these goals in mind, the directorate is divided into three technology product divisions.

The Assessment and Demonstrations Division researches new computer analysis capabilities, develops models, and subsequently utilizes them to perform effectiveness analyses on advanced weapons concepts to determine optimum technology options for further development. It also conducts weapon demonstration projects, which integrate guidance and ordnance technologies with new weapon airframe and aircraft carriage techniques, to prove that the technology is mature and ready for transition.

The Advanced Guidance Division directs and conducts basic, exploratory, and advanced development research in seekers, algorithms, processors, and control loops for affordable air-to-air and air-to-surface conventional munitions and submunitions as well as exoatmospheric interceptors. Much of the technology focuses on autonomous precision-guided air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, with decreased susceptibility to countermeasures, improved weather performance, enhanced utility, and decreased cost.

The Ordnance Division researches, develops, and transitions ordnance technologies for application to air-delivered ordnance systems. These efforts span the entire life cycle of the technology from conceptual design through proof-of-principle evaluation, breadboard and brass-board testing, subsystem development, and component demilitarization. The technology emphasis is the development of ordnance for defeating mobile and armored targets, deeply buried underground targets, and aerial targets.

The directorate also has three support divisions. The Operations and Integration Division provides the directorate with well-conceived and executed business computing, human resource management, and business development services. The Financial Management Division manages the financial resources and the Procurement Division provides an in-house contracting capability.

Propulsion Directorate

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Edwards Air Force Base, California

The mission of the Propulsion Directorate is "to create and transition propulsion and power technology for military dominance of air and space." The Propulsion Directorate has historically been the largest directorate within AFRL. Research areas range from experimental rocket propulsion to developing technologies used in the engines of the F-22 Raptor fighter.

The Propulsion Directorate currently manages the X-51A program, which is developing is a scramjet demonstration vehicle.

At Edwards, the AFRL test area is located east of Rogers Lake.

Sensors Directorate

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Rome Research Site, Rome, New York
• Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts

The Sensors Directorate's vision is to provide a full range of air and space sensors, networked to the warfighter, providing a complete and timely picture of the battlespace enabling precision targeting of the enemy and protection friendly air and space assets. Its core technology areas include: radar, active and passive electro-optical targeting systems, navigation aids, automatic target recognition, sensor fusion, threat warning and threat countermeasures.

Space Vehicles Directorate

• Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
• Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts
• Gakona, Alaska

The Space Vehicles Directorate serves as the Air Force's "Center of Excellence" for space research and development. It 's mission is to "develop and transition high pay-off space technologies supporting the warfighter while leveraging commercial, civil and other government capabilities to ensure America's advantage." The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program located near Gakona, Alaska is also jointly operated by the Space Vehicles Directorate as well as other military research organizations and universities to conduct ionospheric research.

The division currently located at Hanscom AFB is scheduled to move to Kirtland AFB under the Defense Base Realignment and Closure, 2005 Commission. The realignment is scheduled to be completed once facilities have been built at Kirtland to support the division.

Some notable projects recently developed within the Space Vehicles Directorate include the XSS-11 and the TacSat-2 and TacSat-3. These satellites are developed by the directorate to demonstrate new and experimental sensors and avionics. The University Nanosatellite Program , a satellite design and fabrication competition for universities, is also managed by the Space Vehicles Directorate.

See also

Related agencies

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Naval Research Laboratory
• Army Research Laboratory
• NASA

Projects

Air Vehicles

• Force Application and Launch from Continental United States

Directed Energy

• Shiva Star
• Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response rifle

Information

• Voice stress analysis
• Wireless intrusion prevention system

Munitions

• GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb

Propulsion

• P91-1 ARGOS
• Pulsed detonation engine
• RS-68

Space Vehicles

• C/NOFS
• TacSat-1
• Fractionated Spacecraft
• IBM RAD6000

External links

• Air Force Research Laboratory Homepage