• Chemistry, with emphasis on surface pheno- 

 mena and interactions between surfaces; 

 high-temperature, high-strength materials; 

 and relationship of processability to morphol- 

 ogy and microstructure which control the 

 properties of polymeric materials. 



• Electronic and solid state sciences, with 

 emphasis on high-power microwave tube re- 

 search, low-cost inertial sensing, and struc- 

 tural materials processing. 



• Life sciences, with emphasis on human oper- 

 ator performance modeling; environmental 

 protection and toxicological hazards; and 

 simulators for training. 



• Mathematical and information sciences, with 

 emphasis on logistics/reliability, applications 

 of microprocessors, and software technolo- 

 • Physics, with emphasis on high energy 



charged particle beams, high average power 

 tunable lasers, and high power incoherent 

 sources. 

 Basic research areas that warrant increased 

 emphasis are listed below: 



• Greater growth in the turbulence and com- 

 posite structures programs. 



• Research in adhesion to understand the na- 

 ture of bonding between protective coatings 

 and films and various substrates. 



• Dynamics and spectroscopy of new molecu- 

 lar systems for new electronic transition las- 

 ers. 



• Nondestructive evaluation of both metals and 

 ceramics. 



• Human factors in the design of aerospace 

 systems. 



• Identification of factors influencing simulator 

 training effectiveness. 



• Probability theory and statistics applied to 

 logistics and reliability problems. 



• Fault-tolerant systems design. 



• Conventional weapons phenomenology. 



• Visible and near-IR laser optics in the areas 

 of sources, tunability, and geometry. 



Some of the areas warranting emphasis also 

 appear in the list of those areas already targeted 

 for increased emphasis because it is felt that even 

 more resources could be profitably expended 

 there. 



Organization and Management of 

 Scientific Activities 



The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is 

 the single manager of the Air Force basic research 

 program. Approximately 30 percent of the re- 

 search is conducted in 1 1 Air Force laboratories, 

 under the immediate control of the laboratory 



84 DEFENSE 



commander. Sixty percent is conducted by in- 

 dustrial firms and universities through contracts 

 and grants managed directly by AFOSR. The 

 remainder represents contracts managed by the 

 laboratories and support money. 



Decisions to initiate and conduct research are 

 based on the importance of the problem to the Air 

 Force, the competence of the investigator, and 

 the budget of the sponsoring organization. Wheth- 

 er the problem will be tackled in-house or outside 

 depends on manpower and expertise available. 



There are several mechanisms used to ensure 

 that basic research contributes to the Air Force 

 mission. The validated goals of the Air Force re- 

 search program are incorporated into the Re- 

 search Planning Guide. These objectives are writ- 

 ten by groups comprised of people from the Air 

 Force technology laboratories. Headquarters Air 

 Force Systems Command, and the Air Force re- 

 search community. AFOSR, with laboratory in- 

 puts and coordination, publishes the Air Force 

 Research Plan in response to the Research Plan- 

 ning Guide. The plan details research efforts di- 

 rected at achieving the stated objectives. 



A yearly Technology Planning Guide is pub- 

 lished by Air Force Systems Command. This 

 document contains the validated goals of the Air 

 Force exploratory and advanced development 

 programs, the programs to which Air Force labo- 

 ratories devote more than 90 percent of their re- 

 sources. The research community contributes a 

 section to the Technology Planning Guide on re- 

 search results ready for transfer to or considera- 

 tion by development programs. 



Prior to FY 1977, most Air Force basic research 

 was concentrated in only a few laboratories and 

 AFOSR. Now, however, each of the 1 1 laborato- 

 ries devotes approximately 7 percent of its man- 

 power to basic research. Research at each labora- 

 tory, naturally, tends to concentrate on basic 

 studies to support the laboratory's development 

 mission and technology base. With AFOSR as the 

 single manager of Air Force research, assurances 

 can be made that relevant problems are addressed 

 and that results are passed to the appropriate lab- 

 oratory for consideration in further development 

 planning. 



Individual research projects are initiated only if 

 they can be sustained at a critical level of effort 

 determined by the program manager. That is, the 

 program manager determines if there are enough 

 good scientists with enough equipment and sup- 

 port reasonably to assure the problem's solution. 



The overall research budget is determined by 

 the Director of Defense Research and Engineering 

 and Air Force headquarters within the congres- 

 sional constraints of the total Air Force budget. It 

 is at this level that decisions are made on the 



