The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has selected the 38 scientists and engineers who have won grants this year under the service’s Young Investigator Research program. In total, these researchers, all of whom have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in the last five years, will receive more than $14 million in grants to pursue basic research over the next three to five years in the fields of aerospace; chemical and material sciences; physics and electronics; and mathematics, information, and life sciences. AFOSR received 202 proposals this year. The winners include: Ross Burrows of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, who will study space weather effects; Matthew Ringuette of the State University of New York in Buffalo, who will explore flapping-wing propulsion; and Brook Swanson of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., who will explore high-performance biomaterials for defense applications. (AFOSR release, including full list of winners)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.