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

Prior to the formation of the four "super" laboratories in 1990, each directorate had very unique histories. In most cases each AFRL research site has it's own history as it was transfered through various reorganizations and mergers before it finally ended up in one of the four precursors to the current AFRL organization.

The laboratory, as it exists now, 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.

Each technical directorate also typically has three support divisions in addition to its research 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.

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." Typically, the Directorate researches areas related to aerodynamics and controls for use in aircraft, while air vehicle propulsion system research is handled by the Propulsion Directorate. Historically, research performed has contributed to the development of stealth technology, lifting body aircraft, and reconfigurable wing surfaces.

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 is also collaborating with NASA Langley Research Center on the X-48 project to study characteristics of blended wing body type aircraft and, in 2002, 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. The Directorate is also a collaborator with DARPA on the FALCON program, including the Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle.

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 the Air Force's center of excellence for high power microwave technology and the Department of Defense's center of expertise for laser development, including semiconductor, gas, chemical and solid-state lasers."

The Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland AFB, North Oscura Peak on White Sands Missile Range, and the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing observatory (AMOS) are also operated by divisions of the Directed Energy Directorate in addition to their facilities at the Directorate's headquarters at Kirtland AFB. The Starfire Optical Range is used to research various topics of advanced tracking using lasers as well as studies of atmospheric physics which examines atmospheric effects which can distort laser beams. North Oscura Peak is used to research the various technologies necessary to facilitate successful tracking and destruction of an incoming missile via a laser and is used frequently for laser-based missile defense tests. AMOS provides computational resources to AFRL, Department of Defense as well as other agencies of the US Government.

Directed Energy projects typically fall into two categories: laser and microwave. Laser projects range from completely non-lethal targeting lasers to "dazzlers" such as the Saber 203 used by US forces during the Somali Civil War and the more recent PHASR dazzler to powerful missile defense lasers such as the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) used in the YAL-1A project now led by the Missile Defense Agency. Microwave technologies are being advanced for use against both electronics and personnel. One example of an anti-personnel microwave project is the "less-than-lethal" Active Denial System]] which uses high powered microwave to penetrate less than a millimeter into the target's skin where the nerve endings are located.

711th Human Performance Wing

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

The mission of the Munitions Directorate is to "develop, demonstrate and transition science and technology for air-launched munitions for defeating ground fixed, mobile/relocatable, air and space targets to assure pre-eminence of U.S. air and space forces."

Propulsion Directorate

X-51 Waverider ScramJet

• 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 at AFRL was formed through the merger of the aerospace propulsion section at Wright Laboratory and the space propulsion section at Phillips Laboratory. Both sections, both before and after the merger, have played significant roles in past and present propulsion systems. At Edwards, the AFRL test area is located east of Rogers Lake.

The Propulsion Directorate currently manages the X-51A program, which is developing a scramjet demonstration vehicle. In January 2008, the Propulsion Directorate's experimental pulse detonation engine successfully completed it's first test flight on a significantly modified Scaled Composites Long-EZ aircraft.

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

Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS)

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

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

• F-1 (rocket engine)
• P91-1 ARGOS
• RS-68

Space Vehicles

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

References

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Air Force Research Laboratory Website

External links

• Air Force Research Laboratory Homepage (official)