dahm chicago keynote

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Key Air Force Research Priorities

28 June 2010

Dr. Werner J.A. Dahm Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force

Air Force Pentagon (4E130) Washington, D.C.

UNCLASSIFIED

Headquarters U.S. Air Force

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation

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The Air Force is Critically Dependent on Science & Technology Advances

The Air Force is in the capabilities business; achieving superior capabilities requires a continual source of science and technology advances, with occasional breakthroughs

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Science & Technology Has Top-Level Representation in the Air Force

Chief of Staff Air Force (AF/CC)

Secretary of the Air Force

(SecAF)

Headquarters U.S. Air Force

Office of the USAF Chief Scientist

Air Force Chief Scientist

(AF/ST)

  The Chief Scientist is the full-time scientific and technical advisor to the AF Chief of Staff and Secretary of the AF

  Holds 3-star equivalent rank; is a full member of the Air Staff, the AF Council, and Headquarters Air Force

  Provides independent technical advice on all existing and planned programs, and on technical opportunities

  Has unrestricted access to all information and programs; can address any topics of interest or opportunity

Commander, Air Force Materiel Command

(AFMC/CC)

Commander, Air Force Research Laboratory

(AFRL/CC)

Air Vehicles

Directed Energy

Space Vehicles Propulsion

Materials & Manuf. Information

Human Perform.

Sensors

Munitions

AFOSR

Basic Res. (AFOSR)

NA NE NL

Since shortly after its formation from the Army Air Corps, the Air Force has maintained an independent full-time Chief Scientist in the Pentagon as a direct scientific and technical advisor to the Chief of Staff

Unclassified 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation

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The Path from Science and Technology to New Air Force Capabilities

•  Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) •  Initial Operational Test & Eval. (IOT&E) •  Full Rate Production (FRP) •  Initial Operational Capability (IOC) •  Field •  Sustain

TRL 1: Basic principles observed and reported TRL 2: Technology concept and/or application formulated TRL 3: Analytical or experimental proof of concept TRL 4: Component validation in laboratory environment TRL 5: Component validation in relevant environment TRL 6: System/subsystem demonstration in relevant environment TRL 7: System prototype demonstration in an operational environment TRL 8: Actual system completed and qualified through test and demo TRL 9: Actual system proven through successful mission operations

Technology Readiness Level (TRL): Definitions

Basic Research

Applied Research

Advanced Technology Development

Concept Refinement

Advanced Development

System Development & Demonstration

Production, Fielding,

Sustainment

Budget Activity 1 (6.1)

Budget Activity 2 (6.2)

Budget Activity 3 (6.3) Budget Activity 4

BA 5 BA 6,7

Materiel Development Decision (MDD) Milestone A Milestone B Milestone C

Research & Development Acquisition

Universities Air Force Research Laboratory

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Overall Air Force RDT&E Investments

Operational Systems Development 61%

Basic Research (6.1) 2%

Applied Research (6.2) 4%

Advanced Technology Development (6.3)

2%

Concept Refinement and Advanced Dev.

9%

System Development and Demonstration

18%

RDT&E Management 4%

$28.06B FY09 Air Force RDT&E


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USAF S&T Core Investment in 6.1-6.3

6.2: Applied Research $1029M

55% Total FY09 Core/External $4.5B

6.1: Basic Research $310M

16% 6.3: Advanced Technology

Development $541M 29%


Amounts shown are $2B/yr Air Force core

funds; does not include $2B/yr customer funds

$1.9B Direct AFRL funds + $2.2B Customer funds

+ 324M Congress adds

$4.5B total AFRL 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

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USAF S&T Core Investment Distribution Across Air, Space, and Cyber Domains

Air Domain 46%

Space Domain 30%

Cyber Domain 24%

Nearly one-quarter of all Air Force S&T investment now goes into the cyber domain

$541M

$566M

$862M

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Ten Technical Directorates Comprise the Air Force Research Laboratory

Space Vehicles

Directed Energy

Munitions

Propulsion

Human Effectiveness

Information

Air Vehicles Sensors

AFOSR

Materials & Manufacturing


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Total Annual Air Force S&T Enterprise Amounts to $4.5B/yr (6.1-6.3)

Amounts shown are $2B/yr Air Force core

funds; does not include $2B/yr customer funds


$1.9B Direct AFRL funds + $2.2B Customer funds

+ 324M Congress adds

$4.5B total AFRL 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

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What New S&T Advances Will Create the Next Generation of USAF Capabilities?

Maintaining superior capabilities over its adversaries requires the Air Force to continually seek new science and technology advances and integrate these into fieldable systems

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U.S. Air Force “Technology Horizons”

  “Technology Horizons” is the next in a succession of major S&T vision studies conducted at the Headquarters Air Force level to define the key Air Force S&T investments over the next decade

Toward New Horizons

1945

Project Forecast

1964

New World Vistas 1995

Technology Horizons

2010

1 3 6 7

Woods Hole Summer Study

1958

New Horizons II

1975

Project Forecast II

1986

2 4 5

1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010+

Low-impact studies

High-impact studies

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Unclassified

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Air Force S&T Vision for 2010-2030 from “Technology Horizons”

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Cleared for Public Release

New Types of Remotely-Piloted and/or Autonomous Air Vehicle Systems

Air Force Sensorcraft concept


13 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Cleared for Public Release


Unmanned combat air vehicle concept General Atomics “Predator C”

  Unmanned airborne platforms with large sensor suite capable of long-endurance loiter on station

  Requires substantial advances in numerous technologies (e.g., multifunctional structures, propulsion integration, affordable LO, etc.)

  Passive laminar flow control technologies may be essential to provide needed loiter times

  Thermal management will be challenging; large sensor heat loads with few ram air openings

  Special fuels may be needed to manage extreme heat and cold at various operating conditions

High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Air Vehicle Systems

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  New unmanned aircraft systems (VULTURE) and airships (ISIS) can remain aloft for years

  Delicate lightweight structures can survive low-altitude winds if launch can be chosen

  Enabled by solar cells powering lightweight batteries or regenerative fuel cell systems

  Large airships containing football field size radars give extreme resolution/persistence

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Cleared for Public Release

DARPA VULTURE HALE Aircraft Concept

DARPA VULTURE HALE Aircraft Concept

Airship-Based HALE ISR Systems

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  HALE airship platforms are being examined for numerous ISR and comm relay applications

  Current DoD HALE Airship programs include:   Long-Endurance Multi-INT Vehicle (LEMV)   HALE Demonstrator (HALE-D)   Blue Devil (Polar 400 airship + King Air A-90)   Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS)

  Potential fuel cost savings over traditional ISR aircraft; speed and vulnerability are concerns

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Unclassified

Blue Devil “Polar 400” DARPA “ISIS”

HALE-D

Examples of Current DoD HALE Airship Programs

Medium-Altitude Global ISR & Communications (MAGIC) Platform

  Medium altitude allows platform more similar to traditional aircraft

  More rapid repositioning than is achievable with airship platforms

  Can serve as ISR platform and as airborne communications relay

  Designs could potentially allow far greater endurance than MQ-1/9

  MAGIC-like JCTD may be used to assess technology readiness

16 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Cleared for Public Release

One example of a possible MAGIC long-endurance platform

Comparison with MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper

Hybrid Wing-Body (HWB) Aircraft

  Hybrid wing-body with blended juncture has greater fuel efficiency than tube-and-wing

  Body provides significant fraction of total lift; resulting volumetric efficiency is improved

  Potential Air Force uses as airborne tanker or as cargo transport aircraft

  Fabrication of pressurized body sections is enabled by PRSEUS technology

  X-48B flight tests (NASA / AFRL / Boeing) have examined aerodynamic performance

17 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Unclassified

Partially-Buoyant Cargo Airlifters

  Hybrid airships achieve part of their lift from buoyancy and part aerodynamically from forward flight

  Could provide fuel-efficiency benefits for large cargo airlifter in certain applications (e.g., relatively unprepared sites)

  Lockheed Martin “Project 791” using tri-hull design flew in 2006; short manned flight

  System-level studies must determine potential DoD utility   Flight experiments needed to assess handling performance

18 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation Unclassified

Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE) Program

19 Cleared for Public Release

Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT)

Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine (HEETE)

Efficient Small Scale Propulsion (ESSP)

VAATE is the nation’s current major collaborative effort to develop a new

generation of advanced turbine engine technologies

28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation

Key Efforts Within VAATE Program

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LINE-OF-SIGHT BLOCKAGE/ FLOW

CONTROLLED INLET

INTEGRATED REAR FRAME &

AUGMENTOR DURABLE, VECTORING

EXHAUST SYSTEM

ROBUST, DAMAGE – TOLERANT DESIGN

VERSATILE WIDE-FLOW

RANGE COMPRESSOR

LIGHTWEIGHT, DISTORTION

TOLERANT FAN

COMPACT, EFFICIENT,

CONTROLLEDEMISSIONS

COMBUSTOR

EFFICIENT, FULL-LIFE,

EXTENDED HOT-TIME TURBINES

MODEL-BASED, NON-LINEAR,

ADAPTIVE CONTROL SYSTEM

INTEGRATED THERMAL

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INTEGRATED

HEALTH MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM

INTEGRATED POWER

GENERATION

ADVANCED FUEL ADDITIVES/ THERMALLY STABLE HIGH HEAT SINK FUELS

Cleared for Public Release 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation

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Adaptive Versatile Engine Technologies (ADVENT) Program

  Constant mass flow of ADVENT engine provide large new heat sink capacity

  Additional heat exchanger located in relatively low-temperature third stream

  Provides heat sink for fuel-cooled cooling air (FCCA) or air-cooled cooling air (ACCA)

  May be especially important for large heat loads in airborne directed energy systems


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Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine (HEETE) Program


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Airbreathing Propulsion Integration

  Serpentine inlets and nozzles to provide engine obscuration and embedding in airframe

  Significant challenge to minimize flow distortion at aerodynamic interface plane (AIP)

  Seeking to develop bleedless inlet technologies to avoid performance losses from bleed air

  Passive and active flow control approaches being explored to avoid flow separation

  Must allow for wide range of mass flow rates; nozzles, thrust vectoring, actuation


Passive or active flow control to avoid separation in serpentine inlet/nozzle

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Supersonic Propulsion Integration: Combined-Cycle Scramjet Systems

AEDC APTU tests under FaCET of common turbo-ramjet/scramjet flowpath


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Supersonic Inlets: Shock-Boundary Layer Interaction (SBLI) Control

Simulations of passive control of shock-boundary layer interaction control using micro-ramps (Galbraith et al. 2009)

Shock-boundary layer interaction measurements (Lapsa & Dahm 2009)

  Bleedless mixed-compression inlets need methods to avoid BL separation

  Maximize inlet pressure recovery   Shock-boundary layer interaction (SBLI)

can trigger separation at or after shocks   AFRL using experiments and numerical

simulations to develop suitable control   Passive sub-boundary layer vortex

generator micro-ramps   Alternative passive control elements


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Advanced Diagnostics for SBLI Data

Instantaneous (u, v, w) across 2D spanwise planes

Mean Strain Rate Fields

Sxx (x, y)


Stereo Particle Imaging Velocimetry Data for Shock Boundary Layer Interactions

Computational Modeling & Simulation (M&S) to Support Air Force Needs

  Properly integrated M&S can give large reductions in cost of physical testing

  Continued improvements needed in CFD methods (incl. numerics and physics)

  E.g., USAF Seek Eagle use of CFD to assess aircraft/stores compatibility

  6-DOF time-accurate trajectory codes using dynamic offset grids

  Platform/stores configurations exceed what can be tested directly

27 Unclassified 28 June 2010 AIAA Combined Conferences Keynote Presentation

Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) Stores Separation from B-52

Computational aeromechanics support to Air Force Seek Eagle aircraft/stores compatibility and weapons integration

Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) B-52 Heavy Stores Adapter

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Hypersonic International Flight Research and Experimentation (HIFiRE) Program

  HIFiRE flights use sounding rocket descent trajectories to explore fundamental hypersonics technologies

  AFRL and Australian DSTO with NASA; rocket flights at Woomera, White Sands, and Pacific Missile Range

  Primary focus on aerosciences and propulsion areas; also stability & control and sensors & instrumentation

  Propulsion experiments on Flights 2 (US), 3 (AUS), and 6-9 (US/AUS)

  Scramjet fueling/combustion, integration, performance


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Scramjet Engine Development

Ground Demo Engine (GDE-2) SJX61-1 Development Engine SJX61-2 Flight Clearance Engine

  Hydrocarbon-fueled dual-mode ram/scramjet combustor allows operation over Mach range

  Thermal management, ignition, flameholding   GDE-1 was flight weight hydrocarbon fuel-

cooled but with open-loop fuel system   GDE-2 was closed-loop hydrocarbon fuel-

cooled system intended for NASA X-43C   SJX61-1,2 were closed-loop HC fuel-cooled

development/clearance engines for X-51A


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X-51A Scramjet Engine Demonstrator First Flight on 26 May 2010

  240-sec of continuous JP-fueled scramjet combustion in fuel-cooled combustor

  Four flight experiments beginning late 2009   B-52 underwing launch; ATACMS booster to

separation and scramjet ignition   Actual first flight performance:

  Total mission time = 210 sec   Time on scramjet = 143 sec   Total distance traveled = 170 mi   Scramjet ethylene start and JP-7 transition   Scramjet fuel control and cooling   Fuel setting for 4.7 ≤ Mach ≤ 5.25   Actual scramjet Mach achieved was 4.9   TM lost before fuel setting for high Mach   Possible seal leak at nozzle junction

  Nearly all other test objectives were met on this initial flight experiment


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X-51A Scramjet Engine Demonstrator


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Cleared for Public Release: WPAFB 08-2865


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  300-sec of continuous JP-fueled scramjet combustion in fuel-cooled combustor

  Four flight experiments beginning in 2010   B-52 underwing launch; ATACMS booster

~30 sec to separation and scramjet ignition


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Robust Scramjet Scale-Up Program

X-51A uses small-scale combustor Possible follow-on flights to test navigation and inert strike on target

AFRL Robust Scramjet program Scale-up and combustor

reconfiguration for 3X, 10X, 100X

scales?

Possible ISR or global strike vehicle

Large-scale vehicle

Potential step to a future airbreathing TSTO access-to-space system

Dual flowpaths, mode transitions, cocooning Combined TBCC nozzle


Hypersonic Global ISR Vehicles

  JP-fueled scramjet propulsion system could potentially enable a medium-size rapid-response ISR vehicle having operationally relevant range capability

  Mach 6 limit avoids complex thermal management penalties at higher Mach

  Vertical takeoff / horizontal landing (VTHL) enables single-stage rocket-based combined-cycle (RBCC) system having 5000 nmi range with 2000 lbs payload

  Integral rocket boost to Mach 3.5 with ram-scram acceleration to Mach 6   Resulting notional vehicle is 80 ft long with 42,000 lbs empty weight


Notional Mach 6 single-stage reusable VTHL ISR vehicle with 5000 nmi range (Astrox)

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Airbreathing Two-Stage-to-Orbit (TSTO) Access to Space Vehicles

  Airbreathing systems offer enormous advantages for TSTO access-to-space; reusable space access with aircraft-like operations

  Air Force / NASA conducting joint configuration option assessments using Level 1 & 2 analyses

  Reusable rockets (RR), turbine-based (TBCC) and rocket-based (RBCC) combined cycles


Laser-Based Directed Energy Systems

  Laser-based directed energy systems approaching operationally useful power, size, and beam quality

  Distinction between tactical DE (e.g., ATL in C-130) vs. strategic DE (e.g., ABL in B747)

  Tactical-scale systems enabled ultra-low collateral damage strike and airborne self-defense

  Technology path from COIL lasers to bulk solid state (e.g., HELLADS) to fiber lasers to DPALs

  Demonstration path leads to airborne test (ELLA)


AFRL Fiber Laser Testbed

AFRL Rubidium DPAL Experiment

2012 2017 2010

General Atomics

Textron Unit Cells

North Oscura Peak (NOP) White Sands Missile Range

ELLA Flight Demonstration

Electric Laser on a Large Aircraft (ELLA): Integration of Laser DE in B-1B

  ELLA seeks to integrate and demonstrate tactically relevant high-power laser DE in airborne platform

  C-130 and B-1B platforms were considered; B-1B selected as most challenging (aero-optics)

  Will integrated fully modular HELLADS-derived laser in forward weapons bay of B-1B

  Thermal management integrates with existing PAO lines in weapons bay; full beam control

  Current FY17 tests and demonstration planned

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3 Weapons Bays


USAF Chief Scientist Conducting ELLA Integration Assessment in B-1B

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Emerging Roles and New Concepts for Large and Medium Size UAVs

  UAS moving beyond traditional surveillance and kinetic strike roles

  Longer-endurance missions require high-efficiency engine technologies

  In-flight automated refueling will be key for expanding UAS capabilities

  May include ISR functions beyond traditional electro-optic surveillance

  LO may allow ops in contested or denied (non-permissive) areas

  Electronic warfare (EW) by stand-in jamming is a possible future role

  Wide-area airborne surveillance (WAAS) is increasingly important

  Directed energy strike capability is likely to grow (laser and HPM)


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Current Unmanned Aircraft Systems of the U.S. Air Force and DoD

U.S. Army MQ-1C Warrior RQ-7 Shadow

RQ-11 Raven Wasp III BATMAV

U.S. Navy / Marines

RQ-2 Pioneer

RQ-11 Raven Scan Eagle

RQ-8 Fire Scout

U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk

MQ-1 Predator MQ-9 Reaper

RQ-11 Raven

Wasp III BATMAV

RQ-170 Sentinel


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MAVs Involve New Aerodynamic Regimes With Strong Fluid-Structure Coupling

  Micro UAVs open up new opportunities for close-in sensing in urban areas

  Low-speed, high-maneuverability, and hovering not suited even to small UAVs

  Size and speed regime creates low-Re aerodynamic effects; fixed-wing UAVs become impractical as size decreases

  Rotary-wing and biomimetic flapping-wing configurations are best at this size

  Requires lightweight flexible structures and unsteady aero-structural coupling


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Low Reynolds Number Flow Associated with Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles

  Unsteady aerodynamics w/ strong coupling to flexible structures is poorly understood

  AFRL water tunnel with large pitch-plunge mechanism allows groundbreaking studies

  Advanced diagnostics (SPIV) combined with CFD are giving insights on effective designs

  MAV aerodynamics, structures, and control are accessible to university-scale studies


45

Concluding Remarks

  Air Force S&T priorities span across a wide range of technical areas

  Technology Horizons gives the vision for key USAF S&T over next decade

  Remote-piloted and autonomous air vehicle systems will play a central role

  RPAs, HALE aircraft and airships

  Technologies for reducing fuel costs will become increasingly important

  Airships, HWB, VAATE programs   High-speed systems for strike, ISR,

and access-to-space are advancing   Laser-based directed-energy systems

are approaching operational utility


dahm chicago keynote

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