The Air Force is assembling a strategic master plan focused on science and technology (S&T) that the service’s chief of staff said can change the way the Air Force does business.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Jan. 16 the plan may assist the service moving forward faster in areas like hypersonic technology, advanced engine technology, directed energy, information technology (IT) and quantum computing. Welsh said if the Air Force can use the advanced engine technology demonstrator to save as much as 25 percent on fuel costs, it needs to get the demonstrator on as many airplanes as it can afford.
The Air Force’s strategic master plan will tie into the Defense Department’s Long Range Research Development Plan (LRRDP), which will examine future capabilities, dominance and strategy, according to a DoD statement. Specific domains of interest to DoD include space, undersea technologies and affordable protective systems against precision-guided munitions threats. Air dominance and strike capability possibilities are also sought after.
DoD expects a seven-month study to yield results in time to brief the defense secretary by mid-2015 and influence future budget and offset technology decisions. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work will oversee the DoD program, for which a request for information (RFI) was released Dec. 3.
Welsh said the Air Force should replicate the Navy’s successful efforts with directed energy as well as look at laser defense against air-to-air missiles or surface-to-air missiles. The Air Force should also exploit laser communications, Welsh said.
The Air Force, Welsh said, should also look at individual human capital development in terms of education and training, focusing on how to teach people over the next 20 to 30 years.
“There are a number of ways that we should be moving forward in a lot of these areas,” Welsh told reporters during a briefing with Air Force Secretary Deborah James. “I think the possibilities here are endless.”
The Navy recently declared a laser deployed on a vessel as operational, allowing it to be used by crews to defend itself against potential threats. The 30-kilowatt laser, known as the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), was installed on the USS Ponce in August. LaWS successfully carried out operational testing by striking a fast attack boat and drone (Defense Daily, Dec. 10).