Air Force Accelerating Acquisition with AFWERX.

• Author: Machi, Vivienne

The Air Force is working to better promote dialogue with industry, academia and nontraditional partners while developing much-needed capabilities more quickly and flexibly. Last year, it set up AFWERX, an initiative that includes more accessible offices and programs to encourage innovation within the ranks.

The goal is to show potential partners that "the Air Force is open for business," said the organization's director Brian "Beam" Maue in an interview with National Defense. In the months since its 2017 inception, the Air Force has opened facilities in Las Vegas and Arlington, Virginia, that include technical centers, "maker spaces" with basic manufacturing tools and meeting areas to help partners--be they high-tech entrepreneurs or spare-time garage tinkerers--pitch their ideas to the service.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson first announced the creation of AFWERX in 2017 at the annual Women in Defense conference in Washington, D.C. Women in Defense is an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association.

Wilson compared it to Special Operations Command's SOFWERX facility, which was founded in 2016 in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, to facilitate cooperation with industry partners near SOCOM's headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base.

Like SOFWERX, the Air Force's innovation effort is supported via a partnership intermediary agreement with Defensewerx--formerly known as the Doolittle Institute--a nonprofit organization based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, that supports rapid innovation within the Defense Department.

Shortly before the initiative was launched, Maue spent a month in Tampa observing how the SOFWERX team operated and interacted with colleagues and potential partners. But the sheer size of the Air Force's footprint compared to SOCOM means "we do a little bit more than SOFWERX," he said.

The Air Force combined several new and existing innovation vehicles under the AFWERX umbrella, Maue said. The new hubs are intended to bring all of the tools and resources under one roof. One office is based in Las Vegas for proximity to Nellis Air Force Base, local academic institutions and a growing commercial sector, and the other is headquartered in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, close to the Pentagon and Washington, D.C.-area universities and industry partners.

Community development at both the physical and virtual levels is critical, he noted. The team hosts a "First Fridays" broadcast on...