terials devotes a large portion of its effort toward 

 engine materials. The emphasis of this research is 

 on high-temperature materials and phenomena. 

 Air Force laboratories perform research in-house, 

 and AFOSR directs and manages contracts and 

 grants with universities and industry. 



The Air Force research program on engine ma- 

 terials is proceeding on a three-pronged approach 

 toward : 



• A rational fundamental basis for develop- 

 ment of new alloys 



• Improvement of existing materials through 

 improved processing 



• Understanding and control of design-limiting 

 phenomena. 



This program coordinates investigations at 

 Government laboratories, industrial laboratories, 

 universities, and research institutes. The result is 

 expected to be lower cost, higher performance 

 aerospace engines in the future. 



Rocket motor combustion instability. Air Force 

 research on solid propellant rocket motors con- 

 centrates on solving problems in three areas: Ob- 

 taining stable smokeless fuels, accurately predict- 

 ing and controlling the burn rate, and producing 

 safely handled fuels. Air Force in-house and con- 

 tracted research is coordinated with several Navy 

 agencies and the National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration (NASA). 



Specific problems being addressed include: 

 Behavior of aluminum during combustion, pro- 

 viding accurate tools for predicting motor instabili- 

 ties, mechanisms of deflagration-to-detonation 

 transitions (DDT), and stability modeling. Sever- 

 al recent accomplishments in the research com- 

 munity have been passed to service laboratories 

 and industry for further development. When DDT 

 and smoke problems are largely resolved, the 

 program emphasis will shift to higher energy pro- 

 pellants. 



Flight simulation training. The Air Force has a 

 significant investment in flight simulation training 

 programs. The effectiveness of flight simulation in 

 terms of transfer of training to airborne situa- 

 tions, however, remains to be explored. Such ex- 

 ploration is necessary to realize the goals of sub- 

 stantial reduction in flying hours, aircraft fuel 

 usage, and flight maintenance and support costs, 

 as well as increased safety and equivalent, if not 

 improved, flying proficiency. 



Ultrahigh power microwave generation with rela- 

 tivistic electron beams. This Air Force research 

 program is examining problems in beam-plasma 

 interactions, collective ion acceleration, micro- 

 wave production, and pulsed power technology. 

 Anticipated payoffs are in the areas of radar, elec- 

 tromagnetic warfare, and communication. The 

 program has produced microwave power levels 



82 DEFENSE 



over 10*^ watts, the highest power levels to date. 

 The goals of the program are to produce sources 

 with high efficiency, power, and repetition rates; 

 and tunability over a given frequency range, and 

 at shorter wave lengths. Plans include investiga- 

 tions into mode locking to produce picosecond 

 microwave pulses; production of microwaves 

 from the interaction of electron beams with plas- 

 mas; higher power at submillimeter wave lengths; 

 and further work on a cyclotron maser. 



Computer vision. Air Force interest in this field 

 involves the ability to have a sensor examine a 

 scene, have the data transmitted, processed, and 

 abstracted, and finally displayed in a useful fash- 

 ion to an operational user. The main emphasis of 

 the research is on the mechanisms of scene analy- 

 sis: preprocessing, segmentation, postprocessing, 

 feature processing, and classification. Other work 

 involves system design, image registration, and 

 parallel processing. 



The following list contains a sampling of recent 

 Air Force and Air Force-supported basic research 

 accomplishments: 



• The 1974 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was 

 awarded solely to Professor Paul J. Flory of 

 Stanford University for his research on 

 "modes of formation and structure of poly- 

 meric substances." Professor Flory's re- 

 search has been essentially totally supported 

 by AFOSR since 1961. 



• Professor Alfred Y. Wong, UCLA, discov- 

 ered the "caviton" in 1974. The discovery 

 was considered by the American Institute of 

 Physics as one of the three most important 

 advances in plasma physics for that year. 

 Professor Wong's research was supported by 

 AFOSR. 



• Mr. Otto Walchner, working from 1964 

 through 1975 at the Aerospace Research 

 Laboratories, provided definitive measure- 

 ments of the effect of nose bluntness on the 

 dynamic stability of reentry vehicles. His lat- 

 er work shocked the engineering community 

 by proving that the tricyclic theory could not 

 be applied to bodies with the slightest nose 

 asymmetries. 



• Dr. Art Wennerstrom's research in transonic, 

 viscous interactions in turbomachinery, con- 

 ducted at ARL from 1967 and continuing at 

 AFAPL, Ld to his design and fabrication of 

 a compressor of very high efficiency. The 

 work continues now at the APL. The Air 

 Force, NASA, and American industry have 

 become interested in this concept and are 

 now beginning a major effort with M.I.T. to 

 determine why the compressor is so efficient. 



• Professor George C. Pimentel, University of 

 California, Berkeley, has made several out- 



