Key Air Force Research Priorities

Sundog

Sundog

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Key Air Force Research Priorities presentation.

I don't know if the Mach 6 Global ISR VTHL design has been posted here before, but I found it very interesting.

Having just downloaded the Technology Horizons 2010, I see this is just a very brief overview of what's in that document.
 
Found the whole thing interesting, especially the UAV middle bottom of page 13 looks very much like BAE Taranis, although i could be wrong!

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6025.15.html

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/12/344300/pictures-uk-unveils-taranis-stealth-combat-demonstrator.html
 
Any possibility to download the presentation?
 
It's up on the DEW Line, among other places. I'm sure it's somewhere at AF.mil as well.
 
It's up on the DEW Line, among other places. I'm sure it's somewhere at AF.mil as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot!

Preliminary research unsuccessful, I'll try again tonight and I'll post the link here.
 
I was surprised at just how much of the presentation focused on UAVs as opposed to manned a/c
 
On a "related" note the USAF just put out "Technical Horizons" dealing with the 2010 to 2030 time frame:
http://www.airforce-magazine.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/TheDocumentFile/Strategy%20and%20Concepts/TechnologyHorizonsVol1_2010.pdf

Randy
 
Sundog said:
Key Air Force Research Priorities presentation.

I don't know if the Mach 6 Global ISR VTHL design has been posted here before, but I found it very interesting.
Click to expand...

Indeed almost falcon-esque!

I also thought the illustrated mounting of an X37b on top of the possible ISR global strike craft on slide 36 was interesting (which is the spy / strike craft?... well, it's certainly not the first stage scramjet bus), however by slide 37 they had moved to a more generic X37b progeny type craft ;D

I have a couple of questions though (on unrelated slides in the presentation)

1/ Slide 13_ with regards to enhanced loiter times for autonomous air vehicle systems, do we know the mode of operation of passive laminar flow technologies?

2/ slide 23_ would active flow control to avoid separation in serpentine inlets represent physically changing the geometry of the inlet or some more exotic means? I guess in this context, the discussed passive flow control approach in the inlet would be similar to the one being discussed in slide 13 except in an inlet rather than on the exterior of the aircraft?

Thanks in advance
 
http://www.mediafire.com/?0dpcwvg0w504lxq
original pdf, 48.32 Mb
 
Catalytic said:
2/ slide 23_ would active flow control to avoid separation in serpentine inlets represent physically changing the geometry of the inlet or some more exotic means? I guess in this context the discussed passive flow control approach in the inlet would be similar to the one being discussed in slide 13 except in an inlet rather than on the exterior of the aircraft?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

More like forcing air into the duct to "shape" the flow of fresh air into the engine. Injecting fluid (fluid, in this case, being high pressure air) like that is one technique I'm aware of.
Patent here: http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=-oDKAAAAEBAJ
The other is to cover the surface with micro effectors - teeny electromechanical flaps embedded in the skin. Both solutions add complexity, I'm not sure which of the two would be easier to maintain in production. I hear someone recently had long duration trials on just such a system, for just such a reason, but it was an exhaust not an inlet.
Here is a patent for the second approach:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=tvoJAAAAEBAJ

More or less the same techniques have been applied to exhaust flow, there are a number of patents covering that.
 
Many thanks GeorgeA and Flateric!
 
For posterity/ease of reference...

Bottom left's my fave
 

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From the Air Force Association:

Air Force Launches Flagship Concepts:

The Air Force science and technology community has begun work to demonstrate a high-velocity penetrating weapon, reusable space-access system, and new cyber capability under a promising new initiative, said Stephen Walker, USAF's deputy assistant secretary of science, technology, and engineering, Tuesday. These projects are part of the service's new "flagship capability concept," under which the Air Force Research Lab is pursuing capabilities that address the service's highest priority needs, Walker told the House Armed Services Committee's emerging threats and capabilities panel in testimony on the service's Fiscal 2012 S&T funding request. "These are large-scale, integrated demonstrations of technology," explained Walker. The goal has been to line up these activities so that they could smoothly feed into potential future programs of record for fielding the capabilities, he said.
 
From the Air Force Association:

More For Less:

Air Force scientists aim to demonstrate a 2,000-pound-class penetrating weapon that packs the same wallop as one of today's 5,000-pound-class bunker busters, said Stephen Walker, who oversees USAF's science and technology activities. This work, occurring under the new High Velocity Penetrating Weapon initiative, is meant "to reduce the technical risk for a new generation of penetrating weapons to defeat difficult hard targets," Walker told House lawmakers Tuesday in prepared remarks. This weapon "will use a higher velocity impact to increase warhead penetration capability," he explained. "Advanced technologies," he continued, "will enhance weapon kinematics, ensure precision guidance in contested environments, and dramatically reduce the size of the overall weapon." In fact, as a result, future fighters "will be able to deliver bunker-busting capabilities currently associated only with the bomber fleet," he said. This initiative is one of the Air Force's first-ever "flagship capability concepts" that Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Philip Breedlove recently endorsed, according to Walker. (See Air Force Launches Flagship Concepts from Tuesday's Daily Report column)
 

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