Air Force Research branch in pursuit of innovation.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Planning ahead for future combat - Interview

While many military agencies now are focusing on the next combat operation in Afghanistan, the Philippines or perhaps Iraq, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research is working to develop technologies to fight wars decades from now.

"The lesson that I have learned is that you better keep moving," Lyle H. Schwartz, the office's director, said in a recent interview. "The reason that we have better technology than our current enemies is that we invested 20 or 30 years back. I want the United States to have the technological edge in the next fight."

Schwartz's office, known as AFOSR, is one of 10 directorates within the Air Force Research Laboratory. Its mission is to manage the service's basic research program. The office--headquartered in Arlington, Va.--includes a staff of more than 150 scientists, engineers and support personnel.

AFOSR doesn't conduct research, he said. It invests in research in scientific areas that are relevant to the Air Force.

It then passes the fruits of that work to industry, which makes aircraft and other equipment for the service; to the academic community, which can use it to conduct further studies, and to other directorates of the AFRL, which are conducting their own projects.

The actual research is performed by teams of scientists in universities, industry and other parts of the AFRL. With an annual budget of about $200 million, the AFOSR provides approximately 1,200 grants and contracts at more than 300 academic institutions, 145 corporations and 150 projects within the AFRL.

The office also funds research programs by other Defense Department organizations, including the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and the Missile Defense Agency. Eighty percent of the work is performed by academia and industry.

The AFOSR funds undergraduate and graduate student research, fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral assignments at Air Force laboratories, Schwartz said. Also, he noted, university faculty members are sponsored in summer programs, as well as for sabbaticals, at the service's laboratories.

In addition, as part of this program, Air Force researchers visit and work at laboratories in the United States and overseas. The AFOSR works with the international community through its offices in London and Tokyo.

"An important part of our role is to reach out to the scientific community outside of the Air Force," Schwartz said.

The AFOSR celebrated its 50th anniversary in April. Over the years...