2001 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Aircraft Technology Program (2001)

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) contracted with the Naval Studies Board (NSB) of the National Research Council (NRC) to establish a committee to review ONR’s Aircraft Technology Program (ATP).¹ The committee convened on May 15 and 16, 2001, and reviewed some 28 science and technology (S&T) efforts that were presented as constituting the ATP. The committee met separately on May 17, 2001, to formulate its findings and recommendations.² This report represents the consensus opinion of the committee and is based on the information presented at the review.

The ONR ATP resides within the Strike Technology Division (Code 351) of the Naval Expeditionary Warfare Science and Technology Department (Code 35). In 2001 the ATP is funded at $55.0 million, which is approximately 60 percent of the Strike Technology Division budget. The ATP S&T 2001 budget is further divided into the following categories: (1) 6.1 basic research at $4.3 million, (2) 6.2 exploratory development at $18.1 million, and (3) 6.3 advanced development, including technology demonstrations, at $32.5 million. However, the ATP will be in major transition beginning in FY02. Starting in FY02, all of the 6.3 funding and one-half of the 6.2 funding at the ONR will be dedicated to 12 major program areas referred to as Future Naval Capabilities (FNCs). The purpose of the FNCs is to focus advanced technology development at ONR on naval force capabilities that have been identified as high priority for the future by a cross-functional group of naval operators, naval development and support organizations, and ONR program managers. Plans have been made to integrate several of the Code 351 programs reviewed into FNCs, as discussed in Chapter 2.

The ATP was presented to the committee in six thrust areas: integrated avionics, propulsion and power, air vehicle technology, unmanned aerial vehicles/unmanned combat air vehicles (UAVs/ UCAVs), survivability, and special aviation projects. Several projects were presented within each thrust area. The committee organized this report in response to these thrust areas, and in several of these areas it also suggests new S&T topics for consideration for the future ATP.

The committee reviewed only the elements of naval aviation S&T managed by the ATP in Code 351. The committee was told that all naval aviation S&T was conducted by ONR. Other significant contributing technologies, such as materials for aircraft that are developed in the ONR Engineering, Materials, and Physical Sciences S&T Department (Code 33) and sensors and information management that are developed in the ONR Information, Electronics, and Surveillance S&T Department (Code 31), were not reviewed at this time. Therefore, in some respects, the committee did not receive a complete picture of the state of naval aviation S&T.

Within the ATP as presented, the committee identified several excellent S&T projects that fully satisfied all of the evaluation criteria established. The criteria selected by the committee, based on its experience in conducting similar reviews, included the scientific and technical quality of the program and performing personnel, the appropriateness of the project or program as an S&T activity, the impact of the program on Navy and Marine Corps needs, the extent to which the program interacts with other Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs performing similar work, and appropriateness and balance in the funding among basic research, exploratory development, and advanced development. These projects—helmet-mounted displays, real-time image indexing, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Navy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle-Navy (DARPA/UCAV-N) advanced technology demonstration (ATD), reconfigurable rotor blade, and flight controls and dynamics—were of high technical quality, appeared to be led by very competent personnel, had the potential for a major positive impact on future Navy and Marine Corps needs, and were adequately balanced and funded. The committee recommends that these excellent projects be continued and that sufficient funding, acknowledgment, and ongoing support be provided to ensure their successful transition into major programs.

Despite these few excellent but isolated programs, the committee was concerned that it could not identify any influence on the ATP of a long-range vision or strategic planning for the future of naval aircraft technology that involved the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), ONR, and other Navy Department elements. As a result, the ATP appeared to be focused on the near term and to be tactical, opportunistic, and largely reactive. Some projects were marginal S&T activities and perhaps should have been funded as engineering fixes with major program funding. The lack of any significant 6.1 funding in the ATP aimed at discovery and invention (D&I) is additional evidence of this near-term focus. As part of the S&T planning process, there seems to be little or no systems analysis capability at ONR or NAVAIR. This seriously limits the assessment of potentially high-payoff, long-term S&T opportunities.

The committee therefore recommends that OPNAV, in cooperation with NAVAIR and ONR and the appropriate offices in the Marine Corps, develop a long-range naval aircraft strategic plan that includes a NAVAIR-led technology development plan. Such planning would provide (1) a framework for future ONR S&T investments, including significant emphasis on D&I, and (2) a vision for new capabilities, including advanced air vehicle concepts at affordable costs.³ It is particularly important now with the advent of FNC thrusts and as ONR funding shifts from manned aircraft to UAVs and UCAVs. The committee believes that failure to establish such a balanced strategy will lead to a more near-term focus, with unacceptable consequences for naval aviation. ONR should develop or contract for a strong systems analysis capability to support long-range planning. Finally, as part of this strategic plan, the committee recommends that all projects relevant to an S&T aviation capability throughout

ONR (and the Department of the Navy) be collectively reviewed, even though they exist in several functional organizations.

The above findings and recommendations overarch all of the individual findings and recommendations that are provided in each thrust area in this report. Following the Introduction (Chapter 1) and General Observations (Chapter 2), the body of this report (Chapters 3 through 8) describes in detail the committee’s findings and recommendations concerning the individual projects now being pursued by Code 351. The recommended actions, which include continuation, redirection, and termination, are summarized in Table ES.1. Appendix C lists the abbreviations and acronyms used throughout this report.

At the request of the ATP leadership, the committee also provides in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 some S&T topics for consideration in the future ATP activities. The committee believes that many of these topics are relevant to the FNC thrusts that will begin in FY02. The topics, which span the range from basic research to advanced technologies, are offered as suggestions but are not endorsed by the committee to the exclusion of other programs; they are summarized in Table ES.2.