Under the category of things missed, we report that the Air Force Research Lab’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., last month received the Air Force’s Modeling and Simulation Experimentation Award for 2006. A team of five (leader Rudy Martinez, 1st Lt. Joseph Friel, Brian Spanbauer, Beth Nayder, and Linda Lamberson) won the award for their work in advancing experimentation wargaming by employing high-energy lasers, high-power microwaves, and other models of DE weapons in warfighting simulations.
Reduced competition, over-reliance on legacy systems, and declining funding are all contributing to a “critical inflection point” in propulsion for the Pentagon and industry members—and things are headed in the wrong direction, the director of the Air Force’s propulsion directorate warned. Speaking with reporters at the Life Cycle Industry Days…