For over fifty years, the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has produced major scientific discoveries that have led to the creation and development of revolutionary capabilities for the Air Force. These scientific discoveries have laid the ground work for the technological innovation that has created the superior air and space force that is the modern United States Air Force. A continued robust investment in basic research will lead to capabilities that have the potential to reshape Air Force thinking, doctrine and operations in the...

A strong science and technology (S&T) program has been vitally important to American national security since World War II and has to date given the United States a strategic advantage over competitors. During World War II and throughout the C old War, highly specific and large-scale technology needs led to the concentration of national security S&T (NSST) programs in a few agencies, with little cross-agency coordination. Since the end of the Cold War, circumstances have changed greatly. Meeting new and e merging threats to national security-from global climate change to the proliferation of...