A View from the Rest of the World

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Headquarters U.S. Air Force
A View from the Rest of the World
AIAA-Air Force TE Summit Dr. Mark J.
Lewis Chief Scientist USAF 6 December 2005
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Question Since when is USAF HQ part of the rest
of the world? or is it that ST and TE are
too far removed?
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Progress in One Year

• At 2004 TE Summit, very few ST posters or
  presentations
• Only two 6.1-ish posters presented
• Minimal 6.1 representation
• Since that time
• Strong TE presence at AFOSR spring review
• AFOSR has reinvigorated its TE program
• A number of great examples have emerged that
  highlight TE/ST links
• At this Summit there is much greater ST
  participation, a  strong university presence,
  and seemless match of papers

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The Mission of Air Force ST

• Create technology options to meet emerging needs
  of the warfighter.
• Solve existing Air Force technical challenges.
• Provide evolutionary growth of existing
  capabilities.
• Shape the future with revolutionary new
  capabilities.
• Position U.S. Industry to develop, deliver, and
  sustain technologically superior systems.
• Encourage academia to pursue Air Force-relevant
  problems and prepare the next generation of
  scientists and engineers.
• Maintain in-house expertise for smart acquisition
  decisions.
• Every one of these also depend on Test and
  Evaluation

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Leveraging TE and ST

• ST and TE should work hand-in hand
• There are opportunities for doing real ST while
  testing
• Calibration runs
• Facility training
• There are opportunities for academia to use TE
  facilities - but costs are typically beyond
  academic budgets
• Provide training for lab personnel
• Leverage ST products
• Instrumentation
• Computational
• ST bench-top facilities need not compete with
  TE can serve as lead-in to larger-scale TE.
• Provide real funding opportunities for academia
  that support TE.

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Success Stories

• AEDC double cone - facility-to-facility
  comparison AND great science
• DARPA-Falcon HTV-1 testing
• AFRL/VA insisted
• AEDC expanded envelope, found problems with MS
• Outstanding data set
• Waverider envelope expansion
• AEDC was planning calibration
• Used high L/D model instead
• Most comprehensive data set now available.

We can do meaningful things when good people work
together
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X-Vehicles Bridging the Gap

• Between 1946 and 1956, 17 X-vehicles were
  developed.
• In the mid 1950s, 9 separate X-vehicles were
  flying at once.
• X-1 logged 236 flights, X-15 logged 199.
• In 1982-83, there was only 1 X-vehicle flying.
• The good news between 1995 and 2005, 16
  X-designations were made and more are coming.

X-vehicles can reduce acquisition risk up front
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On the Horizon

• New X-vehicles for AFRL adopting the test bed
  approach.
• SED is now X-51
• Active Aeroelastic Wing
• AFOSR-AFRL/VA FResH test series (10 launches in
  Woomera)
• Fundamental Science
• Accepting risk
• Builds international connections
• Scientific Advisory Board Study Experimentation
  vs. Demonstration
• Builds on summer 05 study
• Seeks improvements in experimentation, linking
  MS
• Strong invovlement from SAF/AQR

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Conclusions

• Our way ahead should draw from the best of our
  past accomplishments.
• ST and TE should not compete - we can cooperate
  to mutual benefit.
• Great example Singapores national wind tunnel
• Testing facilities are national assets for both
  TE and ST - we lose them at our own risk.