NATO has taken a page from the Air Force’s innovation playbook, setting up a technology accelerator and a venture fund to nurture and financially support small companies working on cutting edge technology development in critical fields.
As the Defense Department engages commercial entities to speed innovation, cultural and structural differences between government and the private sector continue to be the biggest hurdle to rapidly deploying new technology, the head of Air Force Futures told the influential Defense Innovation Board at a ...
After several years of analysis, experiments, and contract awards, the Air Force’s work with electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft initiative is poised to transition to more field testing in 2023. Since April 2020, the service has been looking at eVTOL aircraft, including fixed-wing ...
AFWERX expects to formally launch SpaceWERX—a center for military-space-centric innovation intended to support Space Force acquisition—this summer, AFWERX director Col. Nathan Diller told reporters at the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium on Feb. 24. “We are expecting very soon—in the coming months—to actually ...
The Air Force’s science advisers say the service needs to make its approach to cutting-edge “Vanguard” programs more concrete and repeatable—and to ditch them when things don’t work out. USAF leaders asked the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board to grade how the Vanguard concept is ...
The Air Force will flight test the U.S. military’s first hypersonic missile this month, Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper said Dec. 14 at the inaugural Doolittle Leadership Center Forum. Speaking on the theme of “From Acquisition to Lethality,” Roper also described progress on the ...
The Air Force's technology incubator, which doles out more than 1,000 small research contracts worth up to $50,000 each year, unveiled an advance look at its 2021 programs during its virtual Accelerate event, Dec. 7-11—the first organized by the newly relaunched AFWERX 2.0. AFWERX 2.0 ...
Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper is seeking more congressional help for the defense industrial base as companies find their new business rhythm in the coronavirus era. “We’re transitioning into the new steady state. The number of new discoveries is going down and that’s good,” ...
The Air Force will kick off its effort to encourage the development of flying cars with a virtual launch event featuring product presentations and government briefings from April 27 to May 1. Known as “Agility Prime,” the initiative aims to support private companies that are ...
The Air Force wants to hear from small businesses with big ideas to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. AFVentures, a new group started to improve outreach to small companies that do not traditionally work with the Pentagon, published a solicitation March 30 that ...