Air Force Technologies

The next new aircraft to roll out of the U.S. Air Force hangar may be a powered sensor. Scientists at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, have developed radar arrays that can serve as aircraft skin and as structural components. Their research is opening up entirely new radar capabilities as well as materials advances.

The U.S. Air Force is taking a holistic approach to its information technology upgrades. In addition to networking information, the Air Force is networking its programs to improve interoperability and efficiency.

The U.S. Air Force is claiming the virtual high ground. The service recently stood up a task force to study and define exactly what cyberspace means in relation to military operations. This group, part of an ongoing effort to reap the maximum benefits in force transformation, is developing recommendations that will help reshape doctrine, tactics and mission areas for years to come.

Convergence is taking place in the military for more than voice, video and data these days. The U.S. Air Force's new Network Operations Command and the redesignation of the 67th Information Operations Wing as the 67th Network Warfare Wing set into motion significant changes intended to improve network command and control and situational awareness as well as the synergy between network warfare disciplines. As the service implements the evolutionary strides of this reformation, information technology will become an even more integral part of a U.S. military global strike capability, one that transcends geographic areas of responsibility and that effectively reaches into the realm of cyberspace.

U.S. military aircraft may one day mimic the Hollywood special effects of Batman Begins with wings that change from pliable to rigid and back again or that expand and contract on demand. Two approaches for morphing aircraft structures are being considered that would give the armed forces the ability to use the same airplane in multiple roles, from slow-flying reconnaissance missions to high-speed target takedowns. Several enabling technologies are facilitating the development of this capability; however, determining how such aircraft would meet military requirements still remains to be done.

Pilots flying the new F-35 strike fighter may be forgiven if they begin to believe that their aircraft is disappearing around them: Its sensor suite, situational awareness and human-machine interface are so advanced that the pilot will have instantaneous knowledge of everything around him or her-in all directions. In an aircraft with displays that resemble video games more than conventional cockpits, pilots will have a greater variety of situational awareness information and more capabilities to act on that information than available on any other aircraft currently flying.

The U.S. Air Force is spearheading the joint community's pursuit to meet the need for speed-in a realm other than aircraft. A Web-based system developed by the service is providing the boost that commanders and intelligence specialists need to attain the goal of striking a target within seven minutes of a command to attack.

Future U.S. Air Force sensors will serve multiple roles as detectives, guards, messengers and avengers. New active and passive systems will network, exchange information, formulate opinions and even lead the fight against adversaries on the ground and in the air.

Autonomous batwing aircraft, boomerang-shaped surveillance vehicles, hypersonic exoatmospheric bombers and rapid-turnaround space launchers may be leading Air Force wings in this new millennium. As the F-22 becomes operational and the Joint Strike Fighter undergoes selection testing, Air Force scientists are pursuing extraordinary new vehicles that reflect the service's maturing mission as well as revolutionary capabilities.

A synergistic interaction between experts, processes and technology is producing concepts of space systems for the U.S. Air Force that will effectively use current and planned assets to address future warfighters' needs. In a corporate facility dedicated to maximizing a coordinated team approach, specialists in utility, availability, cost, power, propulsion, software and payloads develop consistent point designs in as little as three days.