WASHINGTON — If the US Air Force is going to simultaneously keep ahead of the technology curve while fighting a war, it needs innovative thinking from all corners, the service's vice chief told scientific advisers on Tuesday.
Speaking at an annual conference of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, Gen. Larry Spencer implored the group of independent advisers to help the service break out of its traditional mold.
"We need your help to help us break through that, because we are so tied to the way we've always done it and we are so encumbered by what 'we cannot do' and 'what won't work,' " Spencer told the audience.
Certainly tThe service is never at a loss for potential new technologies it can exploit. The challenge, Spencer said, is to take those ideas and turn them into something actionable.
"What we need help with, at least frorm this group is, at some point, we need to leap off the paper into something we can use," he said. "The dilemma we're having is balancing the demands of today with the demands we know are in the future, and being able to afford them both at the same time."
Among the technologies Spencer said it's highlighted as worth exploring is technology allowing the service to track femtoseconds — tiny fractions of a second that could give more accuracy to a variety of technologies; heads up displays that can be fed into contact lenses; improvements in quantum systems; and ways to cut down the hours needed to operate an unmanned system.
He also said indicated that the service will put a premium on innovation in its fiscal 20FY16 budget request, which will be unveiled Monday.
Spencer's comments came at a kickoff event for this year's trio of studies being run by the Scientific Advisory Board, a federal advisory committee that was formed in 1944 to look provide an independent voice to the service on issues of technology and science.
The three topics being looked at this year are the use of quantum systems, cyber vulnerabilities in embedded systems on air and space systems, and how to enhance the utility of unmanned vehicles in contested environments.
One major topic of discussion raised by audience members is how the service will keep up with technology growth from near-peer competitors such as China, at a time of tightening budgets.
Spencer acknowledged that balance is difficult, but said the service cannot allow itself to fall behind other nations.
"We should not, in my view, put ourselves in a position where we are reacting. We should have people reacting to us," Spencer said. "That is obviously more difficult in an environment of shrinking budgets, particularly when your budget is shrinking and your threats are certainly not going down."
Spencer also argued that the traditional drawdown after a military conflict is not applicable to modern day situations. After World War IITwo, Korea or the Persian Gulf War, hostilities ended, and so a drawdown made sense, Spencer said. In comparison, the conflicts of today are non-unending.
"People would typically think after Afghanistan or Iraq the budget comes down," he said. "The problem is, back then we had defeated someone and that adversary's capability had gone down. The type of war we have been fighting is not against a state actor that we had traditionally fought in the past."
"If anything you can argue our peer competition is on the rise," Spencer continued. "So how do you take that down after Afghanistan and Iraq, budget reduction, and at the same time stay on top of the curve? And that's what we're trying to convince the American people of."
Email: amehta@defensenews.com
Twitter: @AaronMehta
Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.
