AFA Winter 2021: US Air Force envisions additional Vanguard S&T programmes in the future
25 February 2021
by Pat Host
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) could have as many as six Vanguard priority science and technology (S&T) programmes in the coming years, said Brigadier General Heather Pringle, AFRL chief, on 24 February, during the Air Force Association’s (AFA’s) annual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.
Brig Gen Pringle said that she wants to have a pipeline of Vanguard programmes coming and going. The three current Vanguard efforts are Skyborg, a family of autonomous capabilities on affordable unmanned aircraft platforms for low-cost combat; Golden Horde, a collaborative munitions effort; and Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), an alternative position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability.
A full test of the pod system is expected in 2024.
The U.S. Air Force Research Lab has begun building a pod-mounted laser weapon designed to keep friendly aircraft safe from enemy missiles. The Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) pod is under construction at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. If successful, one of SHiELD’s descendants will protect older Air Force fighters, tankers, and surveillance aircraft from missile attacks. Previously On.
The SHiELD pod, which the Air Force worked on with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, will consist of three major subsystems including the pod itself, the laser, and beam control. AFRL received the pod this month, and the two remaining subsystems will arrive later this year.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory is anticipating delivery later this month of the first major assembly of its Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator weapon.
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WASHINGTON
A team of researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) received a United States and United Kingdom Science and Technology Cooperation Commendation from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Dec. 4.
The NRL team of experts with the Bio-inspired Adapted Techniques for Sensing, Actuation and Vocalization using Vibro-acoustics (BATSAVVi) program were commended for establishing bilateral collaboration between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
The NRL team, led by Don Sofge and Jason Geder, along with Joseph Lingevitch, Ph.D., Matthew Kelly, Daniel Lofaro, Ph.D., Loy McGuire, and Luke Calkins addressed research challenges in small, unmanned vehicle navigation and communication. They successfully proved novel, bio-inspired acoustic approaches to obstacle detection and avoidance within the program.