U.S. Air Force science and technology projects heading toward the “valley of death” should fear no evil in fiscal 2019, particularly if they relate to autonomy, directed energy, hypersonics, or low-cost and long-endurance aircraft.
The technology transition program, an Air Force budget line that funds advanced component development and prototyping, has grown exponentially since being established in fiscal 2014 and that trend is set to continue.
Funding for these projects has risen from $48 million in fiscal 2014 to almost $937 million this 2018 fiscal year, with Congress adding another $95 million to the president’s request for additional hypersonics, directed energy and long-endurance aerial platform experiments.
When the Air Force releases its budget program for fiscal 2019 in February, sources say to expect more strong support for the technology transition budget element (0604858). The funding is meant to shepherd promising technologies through the so-called valley of death, where laboratory experiments typically die if they are not immediately paired with an acquisition program for full-scale development and fielding. It achieves this by funding live component and platform tests to mature designs.
One source named several areas likely to receive strong support in fiscal 2019: air-breathing hypersonic propulsion, hypersonic strike weapons, and low-cost attritable (or limited life) aircraft technology.
Another source added directed energy and autonomous computing, particularly for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications.
Many of these prototyping efforts will be a continuation of programs already underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), many of which are beyond being considered laboratory experiments, but still aren’t quite ready for prime time.
Projects already underway in these key investment areas include the AFRL/
Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (
and
) and Tactical Boost Glide (Lockheed) programs; the XQ-58A Valkyrie (Kratos); High-Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System, or Hellads (
); and Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD (
, Lockheed, and Northrop). Another key project now getting underway in partnership with the Navy is a secretive program called High-power Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike (HiJENKS), a microwave energy weapon.
Past benefactors of this technology transition funding include the Hellads ground-based laser weapon, which demonstrated the ability to “cue, track, and destroy airborne targets in defense of the national capital region,” according to budget documents. Another is the OA-X light attack experiment, and the Auto Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS), which is being adopted by Air National Guard
and is already credited with saving lives.
Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington Jan. 18, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson lauded another benefactor of the tech transition program, the three-stream adaptive cycle engine, which now has transitioned into full-scale demonstration under the Adaptive Engine Transition Program.
and Pratt & Whitney have both developed alternative designs, with the aim of producing a fighter-class engine that is 25% more efficient with 10% better thrust.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Air Force-sponsored Science and Technology 2030 event, AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. William Cooley said key hypersonic propulsion, hypersonic weapon, and low-cost attritable aircraft programs “are not losing support, they’re moving forward.
“I expect them to deliver, and to meet the objectives we’ve assigned them to,” he says.
Cooley explains that transitioning technology from the laboratory to the battlefield is always challenging, but the Air Force is committed to fielding these types of hypersonic, directed energy, and low-cost aircraft systems.
“It’s never a clear path through the valley of death,” he explains. “Is there a potential opportunity to transition? Of course! We’re going to do everything we can to make that happen.”
As these “today” technologies attempt the leap from laboratory experiment to combat utility, the Air Force is scouting for the next big thing in science and technology.
AFRL Chief Technology Officer Morley Stone says the service’s
will highlight emerging areas of basic research that can be applied to the Air Force mission. He noted the list probably won’t include nanorobotics or quantum computing because AFRL wants to look further ahead than those.
The information-gathering phase will wrap up in late July and the results will be analyzed and “red-teamed” in August and September prior to rollout.
“We need to keep the pipeline full of key technologies we should be paying attention to,” Stone says. He notes that the results of the S&T 2030 study will be kept unclassified to generate interest.
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