Applied Vehicle Technology Panel Reports... · 2020. 5. 8. · 3 Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization Applied Vehicle Technology Panel VOLUME 1 2020 AVT Technological

VOLUME 1 – 2020

Applied Vehicle Technology Panel2019 Summary of Activities

Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization

VOLUME 1 – 2020 AVT

Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization Applied Vehicle Technology Panel

ISSN: xxxx-xxxxDOI: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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2Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization Applied Vehicle Technology Panel

by Dr Sunniva Tofte In recent years, NATO has experienced a deteriorating security policy situation – from Russian aggression in the East, the surge of extremism in the Middle East, to the long belt of instability in the South and Southeast. A major issue for NATO is the fact that Russia has demonstrated capability and a willingness to use military force for political gains. For Norway, being the neighbour of a powerful nation defensive means will inevitably always be a central factor in Norwegian strategic thinking, security policy and capability development.

Norway is the only NATO member situated in the High North; a region with increasing security political importance for the Alliance. In addition to the security policy changes,

commercial activity in the High North is increasing quickly. The petroleum sector, fisheries, shipping, mineral extraction and tourism in these regions are all experiencing growth. The High North is generating interest from actors both within and outside of the Alliance. As the Polar ice cap melts, the region becomes more accessible. It is vital for Norway and NATO to keep emphasising the importance of the High North, while working to maintain low tension in the region. Some of the keywords are “early warning”, “transparency” and “adherence to international treaties”. Allied knowledge and experience in operating in Norway and the High North are key factors for enabling collective defence and deterrence in the region, in order to ensure stability.

We are living in an increasingly dynamic world. Emerging and disruptive technologies are already affecting our economies and societies, and technology is rapidly changing the character of warfare. Technological development picks up s=peed, spreads and accelerates. Increasingly, the main drivers are civilian and commercial. The development is not predominantly top-down decided or governed, and it has its own momentum and logic. Future ground-breaking research and cutting-edge technologies are as likely to come from civilian companies as the traditional defence industry, and we must develop the structures to allow the armed forces to draw on these advances that have brought other sectors forward.

Foreword

Dr Sunniva Tofte, addressing the participants of AVT’s Business Meeting and stressing the need to act in the High North


3Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization

Applied Vehicle Technology Panel


Technological superiority has been an essential enabler of NATO’s military superiority. However, the NATO Science & Technology Committee stated in 2016 that NATO’s technological edge is eroding. In order to remain strong and relevant, NATO must take the initiative in order to remain at the forefront of military innovation and development. Key to this will be our ability as Allies to collaborate, join forces, share and build on each other’s advances. The Applied Vehicle Technology Panel’s work in the various committees, technical and exploratory teams under the auspices of the NATO Science & Technology Organization augments the Alliance’s efforts in remaining a relevant and credible alliance.

The new “Journal of the NATO Science & Technology Organization: Applied Vehicle Technology Panel” will help underline the value of research in the NATO nations, as well as emphasize the need to be on the forefront of military technology. I wish you all the best for the introduction of the new journal.

Sincerely,

Dr Sunniva Tofte Deputy Director General, Norwegian Ministry of Defence



Dear AVT Community, Dear Reader and ColleagueI’m extremely honoured and pleased to introduce The Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization in its version of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel. One could argue that another print format in the age of information overload will get lost, but I am convinced that this Journal will find its role in providing a forum for military science and technology. Furthermore, the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel Edition will stimulate a healthy appetite for collaborative research in the broad domain of mobile platforms and their increased efficiency. From my predecessor, I have inherited a thriving and very vital panel that succeeds in addressing the major challenges of our time and for years to come, including Hypersonic Flight, Autonomous Ground Mobility, Naval Fleet

Design and alternative satellite concepts. This introductory edition will allow us to capitalize on the excellent work carried out by and within the panel – and to give it an additional stage.

But first I would like to take some time to congratulate Mr Hans-Ludwig Besser for receiving NATO’s prestigious von Karman Medal for his “lifetime achievements and exceptional dedication, leadership and sustained commitment to the NATO Science and Technology community”. Mr Besser has not only put in his experience and knowledge as an expert in the domain of propulsion technology into numerous activities; he has also served the panel for decades in several leadership positions; most notability as the previous Chairman of this panel.

Furthermore, Dr Prakash Patnaik was bestowed with NATO’s Scientific Achievement Award in recognition of his engagement within NATO’s Science and Technology community. As a subject matter expert in the area of structures and materials engineering under extreme temperature conditions, Dr Patnaik has successfully promoted and projected a number of forward-looking activities that will change the way the Alliance will operate and develop their future military vehicles. Equally important has been his leadership role within the panel and his active mentorship of young scientists involved in our community.

These two outstanding representatives of our community bring me back to the excellence of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel’s activities and the attempt to bring it to the attention of a broader audience. As you know, the AVT Panel strives to improve the performance, reliability, affordability, and safety of vehicles through advancement of appropriate technologies. The Panel addresses platform technologies for vehicles operating in all domains – land, sea, air, and space – for both new and ageing systems.

Introduction by the Chairman

The Chairman of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel, Prof. Dr David Lecompte,

opening the 44 Business Week in Norway





The idea of this Journal is trifold and it will go beyond the scope of our panel in the future. First, it should act as a framework for the communication of our work to our sponsoring nations within the NATO Science & Technology Organization. Second, its future editions shall provide an outlook for the period to come and review the work we have recently accomplished. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, it will serve as a medium for the AVT Peer Review process centred on the excellent publications of our Symposia, Specialists’ Meetings and Workshops. Transforming our well-established evaluation routine

into a peer reviewed process will increase the value of the experience for the individual researcher as well as increasing the return on investment for the nations.

Besides the vast amount of high-level scientific activity within the panel, it is obvious that without the support of the Collaborative Support Office, lead by Dr Pavel Zůna and the motivation and hard work of the CSO-staff, an endeavour of this scale would not be possible. In particular I would like to express my gratitude to Mr Christoph Müller for his unremitting effort in making this first issue of the journal possible and to Mr Marcin Kaminski for his valuable input with respect to the concept

I am convinced that both The Journal of the NATO Science and Technology Organization and the Peer Review Process will help to highlight and promote the outstanding scientific achievements of our panel. The Applied Vehicle Technology Panel edition at hand is intended to serve as a showcase of recent and upcoming publications, illustrating the range of AVT’s research.

To offer you a broader spectrum of viewpoints, I have asked some of our colleagues to reflect on NATO STO involvement and the value of the scientific work being carried out under the large NATO umbrella. One might agree or disagree with their points of view, but they are certainly a starting point for further development of our Programme of Work.

Finally, I would like to warmly encourage all of you to critically discuss these or other potential changes to the way we work, as scientists, as engineers, as members of the military. I look forward to seeing you at our next Panel Business Meeting Week in Sweden.

Cordially,

Prof. Dr David Lecompte Chairman, Applied Vehicle Technology Panel

Participants at AVT’s biannual Business Meetings



Table of Contents

Lines of Effort

13Stay at the Forefront of S&TRemaining relevant for stakeholders

31Forge and Nuture Effective PartnershipsGrowing the network of experts

49Promote Prototyping and Technoloy DemonstrationRemaining relevant for stakeholders

57Enhance Alliance Decision MakingAddressing real world demands

73Focus on Alliance Needs to Boost ImpactDelivering timely and targeted advice

Viewpoints

8 Outlook 2020 and Beyond

18Interview: Dr Siva BandaUnited States Principal Panel Member

32Interview: Dr habil Askin T. IsikverenAustralian Program Committee Chairperson

42 AVT Panel Business Model

46 Inteview: Dr Ekaterina FedinaSwedish Task Group Chairperson

55Interview: Dr João CaetanoPortuguese Principal Panel Member

74Interview: Dr Dirk ZimperGerman Science & Technology Board Member





Content ImprintThe Journal of the Science and Technology OrganizationApplied Vehicle Technology Panel

Chairman Applied Vehicle Technology PanelProf. Dr David Lecompte

Vice-Chairman Applied Vehicle Technology PanelMr Stanley Cole

EditorProf. Dr David Lecompte

Assistant EditorMr Christoph Müller

Editorial Review TeamDr Veronika Gumpinger Mr Marcin Kaminski Mr Donatas Rondomanskas

PurposeBy presenting the individual foci of its expert panels and by serving as a forum for its peer reviewed work, the STO Journal strives to promote the achievements emerging out of the Collaborative Programme of Work.

DisclaimerThe view and opinions expressed or implied in the AVT Panel Edition are those of the authors concerned and should not be construed as carrying the official sanction of NATO.

Terms of UseUnless particularly stated otherwise, all content produced by the STO Journal authors is not subject to copyright and may be reproduced in whole or in part without further permission. If any article or parts thereof are being reproduced, the STO requests a courtesy line. In case of doubt, please contact us.The STO Journal made use of other parties’ intellectual property in compliance with their terms of use, taking reasonable care to include originator source and copyright information in the appropriate credit line. The re-use of such material is guided by the originator’s terms of use. To obtain permission for the reproduction of such material, please contact the copyright owner of such material rather than the STO.



Outlook 2020 and Beyond

Introduction

Scientific and technical excellence underpins Alliance success across the strategic, operational and tactical spectrum. This scientific excellence is built upon the open sharing and vigorous challenge of new ideas and results encapsulated in the concept of peer review.

In today’s complex security environment, with unparalleled rapid and complex scientific and technological evolution, the “speed of relevance” is a strategic imperative. Current processes within the NATO Science and Technology Organization’s structure, lead to a timeline whereby project proposals and approval might take up to one year, followed by a working period of about four to five years before a final report can be delivered. Hence, a total of five to six years may pass between problem identification and arrival at potential solution that may address an already obsolete issue. For many activities, this is not unreasonable as the topics chosen are technically and intellectually challenging.

AVT Panel is acting as a catalyst for emerging technical and economic challenges

However, in addition to the advice contained in these reports, an often underappreciated aspect of the NATO S&T community is its ability to foster critical information exchange and catalyze the development of national and multi-lateral S&T programs. The Science and Technology Organization’s processes and structure provide for expert advice to be delivered to key decision makers through the development of strong, agile and collaborative S&T networks. Nevertheless, excellence, relevance and timeliness will remain key success measures for the Alliance nations. Improving the AVT Panel’s ability to meet these expectations will require the continued delivery of advice in the short-term as well as further development of the current portfolio in close cooperation with its key stakeholders.





NATO S&T Strategy

Tasked by the North Atlantic Council, the Science and Technology Organization (STO) revised the NATO S&T Strategy in 2018. The resulting document provides a framework for NATO’s S&T community designed to sustain the Alliance’s traditional technological advantage. Five Lines of Effort (LOEs) were identified to focus resources and to communicate the need for bold action. Through these LOEs, the STO seeks to become more effective by enhancing the network of experts; by intensifying strategic communication; by improving the program of work; and, by promoting coherence.

Mapping the AVT Panel’s Program of Work against these LOEs and assessing alignment with the most relevant NATO S&T Priorities shows no surprises. In the main, the AVT portfolio consists of long-term scientific activities near the “forefront of S&T”, with most activities related to ‘Platforms and Materials’. Fewer AVT activities can be aligned with the remaining LOEs, but these activities are highly focused and of significant potential impact.

AVT’s Programme of Work is very much aligned with the key indicators of NATO’s S&T community

Maximizing the relevance of AVT’s Programme of Work by capitalizing on the full spectrum of available formats

Number of planned & ongoing activities



Broad S&T areas such as “Power and Energy” or “Advanced System Concepts” overlap with AVT’s portfolio and emerging areas like “Information Analysis” and “Autonomy” and are expected to grow in importance within the AVT portfolio. This may require a broadening of the S&T expertise base within the panels. In addition to the appointment of subject matter experts identified by the nations, it would be beneficial to capitalize on the community’s network to identify appropriate candidates who would be willing to contribute and could be supported by the right authorities. This could significantly cut delivery timelines, open the existing network to fresh ideas and help to address emerging topics – in a nutshell, favoring the “Speed of Relevance”.

AVT’s Ways to Tackle Upcoming Challenges

The Applied Vehicle Technology Panel leverages its Event Activities such as Symposia, Specialists’ Meetings and Workshops to initialize new topics of interest and/or summarize the state-of-the-art in a specific domain. These activities, ranging from information exchange on national programs to results of scientific research, include the writing of reports and full scientific papers. In order to attract new participation across the innovation system (government-industry-academia) these engagements and documentation formats need to stay relevant for scientists who depend on scientific scores, citations indexes and listings.

A selection of emerging topics of emphasis that will drive the development of S&T activities related to AVT’s portfolio

AVT’s significant scientific output, in combination with NATO’s publication service, delivers valuable input to the

nations

YearNumber of Technical Reports

Number of Conference

Papers

2014 5 78

2015 3 79

2016 7 100

2017 4 91

2018 10 108

2019 18 86




Additional Communication Efforts, including the “Journal of the NATO Science & Technology Organization: Applied Vehicle Technology” have been initiated by the Panel this year. These efforts focus on enhancing the network by promoting the significant body of research performed within the Panel’s Program of Work to national stakeholders. In total, about 1,000 representatives are engaged in activities sponsored by AVT, with the core of these participants being governmental representatives working in defense science. Nevertheless, academic and industrial participants add an important and perhaps critical component by bringing in domain knowledge either in the fields of basic science or product development.

AVT’s Community

Government 65%

Academia 15%

Industry 10%

Military 10%

This mix of perspectives supports the creativity, challenge and consensus functions necessary to generate valuable and evidence-based S&T results. However, to have an impact, it is critical to get this work in front of the ultimate user: the military. Increased interaction with the military will help researchers to get requirement trade space right from the beginning of capability development. It will also provide feedback that will ground additional future research and ensure its alignment with operational need. Finally, opening the traditional one-way information flow with all its persistent challenges will add value to the Panel’s Program of Work, favoring the “Speed of Relevance”

Domains covered by AVTs PoW

In order to address these issues, the AVT Panel proposes to institute a Panel Peer Review process and associated committees. This process will capitalize on existing processes for its Event Activities. Establishing this committee, and adding the peer review element to selected events, will enhance the scientific excellence and recognition of the individual contributions to the events. Special issues of the “Journal of the NATO Science & Technology Organization” will serve as a platform to publish and disseminate peer reviewed papers. A pilot publication will be the AVT special issue on “Graphene technologies and applications for defence” with papers presented at the Specialists’ Meeting in Trondheim, Norway in October 2019.



Major Events in 2020 and Beyond

Within the STO, AVT has played a leadership role in exploring means of increasing the value of S&T development. For example, by inviting all activities to meet at the same location in the same week, synergies are achieved among the nations and the Alliance. Apart from the efficiency of traveling once to attend multiple meetings, communication lines are direct, short and binding in this environment; which helps to solve upcoming issues in a most efficient and effective way ‒ with the “Speed of Relevance”. In addition, the combined meeting structure leverages the natural creativity, challenge and consensus functions so critical to S&T development.

Take Away

The AVT Panel is focused on increasing the value of its results, both within the nations and within NATO itself. It will do so by:

• Promoting coherence and unity of effort;

• Enhancing the network of experts;

• Improving the alignment and excellence found in the Programme of Work; and

• Intensifying Communication to increase its ability to influence and generate impact within the defence and S&T communities.

Upcoming AVT Panel Business Meeting Weeks




STAY AT THE FOREFRONT OF S&T –Remaining relevant for stakeholders

“In order to identify S&T trends with potential defence and

security relevance at the earliest possible stage, the NATO

S&T community must maintain broad situational awareness

of S&T knowledge, technology and innovative developments

in the rapidly changing global S&T landscape. It is essential

to continuously and proactively undertake forward-looking

activities (…) to identify topics before they become issues or

threats, analyse in context, enable exploitation of emerging

opportunities, and to orient future activities and investments.”

NATO Science & Technology Strategy 2018

13



Executive SummaryFlow Control Technologies are of interest to the general military and NATO community because of their potential to improve aerodynamic efficiency and air-sea stability and control. The basic concept in Flow Control Technologies is to effect a large change in an aerodynamic flow by a focused, carefully modulated means and with, preferably, a minimum amount of energy. Traditional flow control uses include applications such as bleed in inlets, span wise flap blowing, bumps, vortex generator devices, and spoilers for weapon bay. However, historically, most of these methods were cost and complexity expensive. Innovations changing this situation are: miniaturization of sensors and actuators, improvements in automatic controls, a host of new effectors such as synthetic jets, requiring no air supply, plasmas, new materials and integration of devices. New design options are also evolving such as electrification of the airframe, eliminating the need to duct engine bleed around the aircraft and better understanding of underlying flow phenomena physics through computation and advanced experiments. A promising option in this category uses ionized gas and electrical charge to produce momentum flux and force changes without moving parts and without changing a flight vehicles outer mold lines. It leverages the advantages of electronic/mechanical systems to affect flow control without the weight penalties and complexity of these systems.

For these reasons, Task Group AVT-190 was established to conduct a research effort focused on the development and validation of theoretical models for predicting the interaction of plasma with generic aerodynamics bodies-configurations in fluid flows of interest to NATO including the effect on aerodynamic forces and moments. Specifically, discharge techniques were to be explored using Dielectric Barrier Discharges, Microwave discharges, and combined microwave-laser discharges. The specific goals to investigate were:

• Establish a common experimental database including surface pressure, forces and moments, and flow-field visualization;

• Define a matrix of test cases within the experimental database for validation of theoretical models;

• Compute the test cases;

• Evaluate the results of the computations and identify modelling strengths and weakness; and

• Recommend modifications to the theoretical models.

Plasma Based Flow Control for Performance and Control of Military Vehicles

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-190)




This report contains assessments conducted by team members from ten countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia Federation, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Pressure contours after an energy deposition by Technical Team AVT-190



Executive SummaryComputational predictions were generated and compared by the task group members of AVT-203 as a step in assessing the goodness of computational tools in predicting aeroelastic responses of flight vehicles. The goals of this activity were to validate the tools that we have in hand, and identify developments required for reliable predictive tools for flutter onset and other aeroelastic characteristics. Creating or validating predictive tools for the unforgiving and complex physical phenomena associated with flutter onset is challenging and was thus approached in a building block manner. The task group’s specific objectives were to assess state-of-the-art methods for the prediction of aeroelastic phenomena on military air vehicles, and to assess available experimental databases suitable for use in evaluating the methods. The approach implemented was to perform comparative computational studies on a limited number of test cases, with analysis teams using their own nation’s state-of-the-art tools. In performing these comparisons, the task group endeavoured to define the current technical gaps and uncertainties in both computational methods and existing aeroelastic databases.

This activity has produced databases of steady and unsteady aerodynamic simulation results, along with statistical analyses indicating uncertainty levels for clean wing configurations in transonic flow. More benign analysis conditions were examined for a transport category vehicle configuration; more complex analysis conditions were examined for a simplified unswept planform with a supercritical airfoil. This activity has produced methods and information relevant to NATO and NATO nations.

Surface aerodynamic meshes for the HiReNASD wing for Euler (left) and RANS (right) simulations

Joint Exercise in Aeroelastic Predictions

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-203)




Development and validation of tools that are capable of predicting aeroelastic characteristics, such as the flutter condition, are essential to reducing both technical and programmatic risks. Technical issues and questions to address in future work were also identified:

1. How do the uncertainties in aerodynamic quantities translate into uncertainties in the aeroelastic characteristics and risks in terms of vehicle development?

2. What aspects of the tools or methods contribute most significantly to the large errors observed in mis-predicting the physics associated with shock-boundary layer interactions or separated flows? What aspects of the physics most critically influence the aeroelastic behavior of the system? How do we improve these critical aspects?

3. We have utilized the best existing public sources of benchmarking data. Can we define and develop experiments that will address 21st century requirements for validating computational methods?

Snapshots of flow field vorticity colored by FOI collaborating in Technical Team AVT-203



“Hello Dr Banda, what does this Applied Vehicle Technology Panel you are involved in do for us?”

The NATO AVT Panel provides member nations with opportunities to leverage a greater breadth of expertise and experience. It also establishes anchors and professional networks for international needs such as bilateral collaborations, foreign military interactions, etc. For example, after the 2010 Iceland volcano eruptions that grounded all commercial and military flights, member nations benefited greatly from sharing modelling capabilities and flight data. Collaboration saved a lot of money and time over having to develop a solution solely within one country. Specifically, Germany, UK, and Canada provided critical insights for putting together a program to enable a faster return to flight operations in the future. Two years ago, we held a symposium, which resulted in an operations guide and successful report to NATO partners.

“Dr Banda, as the Chief Scientist of the AFRL at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base you are responsible for a technical portfolio ranging widely from air breathing propulsion to aerospace structures to flight control. What are the three top technology priorities AFRL has to tackle in the upcoming years?”

Our top three technology objectives are outlined in the USAF 2030 S&T Strategy:

• Develop and deliver transformational strategic capabilities

• Reform the way S&T is led and managed

• Deepen and expand the S&T enterprise

There are many underlying technologies that enable these strategic capabilities, but success does not depend on any one particular technology. Instead, the collective must be accomplished in addition to S&T process reformation and enterprise expansion in order for us to achieve our long term vision.

“The US Air Force has recently published its ‘S&T Strategy for 2030 and Beyond.’ Along with the presented vision and objectives, the strategy also lists three lines of effort: (1) Build a more lethal force; (2) Strengthen alliances and attract new partners; and (3) Reform the US DoD for greater performance and affordability. From your perspective, what will be the main challenge(s) in addressing these lines of effort?”

The main challenge stems from our adversaries using any means necessary, which sometimes includes intellectual property theft and unregulated operations. In general, fraud, corruption, and predatory behaviour in the private sector takes funding out of the hands of conscientious S&T suppliers, in friendly and adversarial nations alike. As it turns out, most US S&T is performed outside the DoD. So, when our adversaries attempt to bypass S&T development and safety/environmental regulations, it hurts the US economically as well as our partners and allies. Fortunately, the NATO AVT Panel (among others) greatly facilitates building partnerships and alliances, which is necessary given our globally interdependent economies.

Interview: Dr Siva Banda

INTERVIEW

We had an opportunity to interview Dr Siva Banda, Chief Scientist of the Aerospace Systems Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Concept art from the Air Force Research Laboratory shows how the F-35 jet could be linked to a series of drones through the

loyal wingman concept © U.S. AFRL




“You have been involved in the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel since the very beginning. As the US Principal Member to the AVT Panel you coordinate your nation’s contribution to the Panel’s Program of Work. From your perspective, what could be the role of the AVT Panel in supporting the USAF S&T Strategy and AFRL Priorities mentioned above?”

The structure of AVT allows any member nation to bring forward suggested areas of collaboration and discussion, such that AFRL could propose challenges that directly relate to USAF S&T strategy. Recently, USAF prioritized S&T solutions for hypersonic weapon operations. In response, USAF and European partners jointly proposed a quick reaction study to identify the threats posed by hypersonic systems. When NATO provides an opportunity for us to bring our problems to the table for consideration, AVT in turn provides a collaborative forum for exploring solutions.

Furthermore, NATO countries have historically aligned to help address topics that USAF is interested in, because many of the companies and technologies relevant to the AVT panel are based in the US. The panel plays an excellent role in connecting NATO companies and university ideas with US commercial interests. Ultimately, the USAF procures its weapons from contractors, which is how the AVT Panel best supports our priorities.

“The United States is a strong partner and is very involved in NATO’s collaborative framework. From your experience, what are the main benefits to nations from being involved in the framework?”

The main benefit of participation in NATO’s framework is the ability to leverage resources, which saves time and money for developing solutions. In a partnership, the US brings its vast experience and experts to the more focused challenges from NATO, and we consider ourselves a good partner. Connections are not only government to government; industry and academia are involved as well. Together, we shape standards for international collaboration and operational compatibility, and we bring an expansive network of facilities and tools to solve problems jointly.

Image of U.S. Air Forces low-cost stealthy drone supporting efforts to bolster the Air Forces strategy implementation © The Drive

US AFRL is addressing the need for low cost ISR with its Ultra Long Endurance Aircraft Platforms © US Air Force Research

Laboratory



“Finally, in what direction does the AVT Program of Work need to be developed in order to stay relevant to its contributing nations in the coming years?”

AVT needs to continue to be out in front, identifying the next generation of S&T challenges, as well as being able to do so on a faster timeline. AVT has a broad scope, but change is happening and resources are limited. Meanwhile, AFRL will be pursuing technologies outlined in the USAF S&T 2030 strategy:

• To become more agile, the Air Force must augment its high-end platforms with larger numbers of inexpensive, low-end systems. Swarms of low-cost, autonomous air and space systems can provide adaptability, rapid upgradability, and the capacity to absorb losses that manned systems cannot.

• Multi-disciplinary efforts are needed to combine research across low-cost platforms, agile digital and additive manufacturing, modular component and material technologies, autonomous system algorithms, and risk-based certification.

• Like current supersonics, hypersonics has the potential to become a pervasive capability to engage time-critical, heavily-defended, and high-value targets.

• Advanced smart munitions and unmanned aerial vehicles can penetrate adversary defenses through numbers, stealth, agility, and maneuver.

• Research in microwave and laser-directed energy systems will pursue offensive and defensive weapons with deep magazines engaging at the speed of light.

• Cyberoperations, electronic warfare, and artificial intelligence will be combined to degrade and defeat adversary threats and provide access to contested environments, outpacing even the fastest kinetic weapons with tremendous reach.

“Dr Banda – thank you very much for your insights.”

A B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, sits on the flight line, Oct 24, 2019. Routine training prepares Airmen to execute global strike missions anytime, anywhere © US AIR FORCE






Executive SummaryNoise is a problem not only in civil aviation but in the military sector as well. Jet-propelled agile (unmanned) air vehicles generate particularly intense noise during operation. This is a problem in peace time due to annoyance to the community during necessary training/test flights, and during wartime because of the risk of early acoustic detection of the aircraft by the enemy. The particular details of engine integration on such vehicles can easily result in either a noisy or a quiet aircraft. However, today, noise is not part of the design process, but comes as a somewhat problematic by-product when the configuration has been fixed. The potential for an acoustically designed engine integration and corresponding beneficial acoustic installation effects is yet to be exploited. The problem here is that – as opposed to more classical design disciplines – noise prediction is less developed. The applicability of acoustic prediction methods for low noise vehicle design is unclear, and so is their validation status.

The purpose of AVT-233 was to help identify and then validate appropriate acoustic prediction methods as a basis for low noise military aircraft design with a focus on acoustic shielding of engine noise. This group of world experts in aeroacoustic prediction and testing from industry, research organizations and academia took on this challenge and developed a structured approach toward progress in this area.

Shielding for different frequencies for a pressure pulse directly over the airfoil using different calculation methods

Aeroacoustics of Engine Installation on Military Air

Vehicles (10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-233)




In order to establish a fundamental aeroacoustic shielding database for validating acoustic prediction codes of partners, a set of related aeroacoustic shielding tests was planned and executed in four different wind tunnels for three different geometries of ever-increasing complexity to cover all relevant prediction scenarios. An exceptional aeroacoustic database of shielding problems has thus been established in AVT-233. Generic 2D diffraction (NACA0012), diffraction by a convex, sharp edged (SACCON) and a generally convex-concave shaped, sharp- and round edged (HWB) configuration were all measured successfully. In preparation for these campaigns, two aeroacoustic pulse test sources were developed and successfully used in the shielding experiments, one of which is non-intrusive and therefore disturbs neither the flow field nor the sound field. The repeatability of the source events turned out to be very good. The laser-based pulse source was successfully used in all four wind tunnels (open and closed section).

A cross validation of the measurements over the AWB, F2 and QFF showed excellent reproducibility of test results; slightly better than expected (deviations of about 1 dB). The various simulation approaches were validated against the measured data; simulation results were also successfully compared mutually from code to code. The use of high-fidelity numerical simulations helped to assess the step by step neglect of physical effects such as shear layer refraction, potential flow gradients and the flow itself. The overall outcome of these studies showed that for the majority of problems at low speed, a uniform flow assumption or even complete neglect of the flow is acceptable. This study opened the door for justifying the use of some low- to mid-fidelity prediction approaches to the problem of full-scale aircraft shielding.

In conclusion, all main objectives of AVT-233 were accomplished. Validated tools have been established with which to take the next logical step toward full simulation of actual low noise design modifications on realistic NATO military air vehicles.

DNW-NWB acoustic wind tunnel used for test trails of Technical Team AVT-233



Executive SummaryHypersonic boundary-layer transition can have dramatic effects on aeroheating and control authority, yet it remains very difficult to predict, even after half a century of research. Applications include missiles for time-critical strike, hypersonic cruise vehicles, reusable launch and re-entry vehicles, and missile-defense interceptors. Although researchers have been working toward mechanism-based prediction methods for several decades, designers are still using empirical methods, and there is a need to narrow the gap between the two groups. Recently, quiet hypersonic wind tunnels have become available to the research community, high enthalpy facilities have been used to obtain useful data related to instability and transition, and some high-quality flight data were accumulated. Moreover, new instrumentation has been developed for identification and analysis of the instability mechanisms that lead to transition. Also, sophisticated new computational capabilities have shown progress to the point where computations of the Parabolized Stability Equations are becoming a state-of-the-art engineering method, at least for perfect-gas flows, and Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of the transition processes is now feasible. DNS even allows taking into account the freestream disturbance environment, when known. It appears that definitive progress on the difficult problem of hypersonic boundary layer transition is possible by coordinating the various international research efforts.

Hypersonic transition can be caused by several different mechanisms, is affected by various freestream and surface perturbations, and can occur under a variety of flow conditions. In order to develop mechanism-based methods for prediction and control, generic geometries need to be investigated in order to understand the various instabilities that may occur in each case, how they cause transition, and their sensitivity to the flow parameters. Accordingly, the activities of the AVT-240 Task Group were divided into multiple Subtasks. Each Subtask represented an important building block in the overall problem of hypersonic transition, wherein several experts from various NATO nations embarked in cooperative research, each with their own financial support. A number of researchers worked on multiple Subtasks, using similar facilities, instrumentation, and computer codes, yielding a significant overlap as well as synergy between the different Subtask Teams.

Heat transfer rates showing the characteristic hot-cold-hot pattern on the flared cone used by the Technical Team AVT-240

Hypersonic Boundary-Layer Transition Prediction

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-240)




A better understanding of hypersonic flow is paramount towards the development of hypersonic reconnaissance vehicles such as the Artist’s impression of the SR-72 © USAF

These subtasks covered:

• Second-mode transition on slender geometries in quiet and conventional ground based facilities,

• Cross-flow transition on conical geometries at wind tunnel flow conditions,

• Mechanism of windside forward transition on sharp and blunted cones at angle of attack,

• Mechanism of boundary layer transition on nonablating capsules and its sensitivities.

As described in this document, a substantial progress was achieved in addressing these major problems in hypersonic transition.



Executive SummaryOne of the main scientific trends over the past two or three decades has been the interest in “nanomaterials”, i.e., those materials with at least one dimension on the nanometre scale. The properties of these materials are often markedly different from their bulk counterparts, hence their adoption in military technology can confer distinct advantages in numerous domains. In particular, two-dimensional (2D) materials as exemplified by graphene (2D graphite), have attracted a lot of attention over the last decade or so because of the unique combination of strength, transparency, flexibility and conductivity (both thermal and electrical) this material possesses. It is therefore timely and important to assess the scope graphene and other 2D materials present, in terms of feasible applications, ease and scale of production and integration with existing technologies.

The AVT-304 Research Specialists’ Meeting (RSM) on ‘Graphene Technologies and Applications for Defence’ was conceived to assess the current state-of-the-art in graphene-based technology, specifically with respect to its defence applications. The purpose of this RSM was to share results and visions on this topic, and to discuss how to move this topic forward.

The meeting was held in Trondheim, Norway, on 10 – 11 October 2019, and was attended by 45 participants from 17 nations. Most of the delegates were from academic organisations, although there were some representatives from defence-related research organisations, industry and Armed Forces/Ministries of Defence. In total, 16 oral presentations, including two keynote lectures, were given; in addition, there were six posters, some of which were presented as “short” oral presentations. The presentations covered a large spectrum of the topics but could be categorised into four areas:

i) Preparation/use of graphene/polymer composites;

ii) Graphene prepared via chemical vapour deposition and its applications;

iii) Corrosion/barrier properties of graphene; and

iv) Optical properties/sensors. The presentations were generally of high quality and prompted considerable discussions.

The good attendance at the meeting, coupled with its ongoing high scientific profile, supports the rationale that a meeting in this area would be timely. It is important for any NATO activity in this area to be aware of related activities in member countries: appropriately, one of the keynotes was delivered by a theme leader from the EU “Graphene Flagship” programme, and gave a good overview of the Flagship activities in this area, as well as those of nations such as China. The content of the meeting revealed the status of the various application areas noted above, particularly which topics were closer to higher TRL levels, and therefore closer to application.

Graphene Technologies and Applications for Defence

(10.14339/STO-MP-AVT-304)




Of the four broad areas represented at the meeting, it was clear that there is considerable activity in the graphene/polymer composite area and that there are specific applications within this field that should be pursued, both in terms of optimising graphene-relating technology and evaluating how graphene-based materials perform compared to alternative materials (in terms of strength, conductivity etc). The cost and supply chain of graphene-based material would form part of this comparative analysis. It should be noted that the optical/sensors area was not as well represented at the meeting but based on the specific applications presented in this area, also shows considerable promise for applications in the near/mid-term.

TEM images of micron-AlGO showing inconsistent particle wrapping with the Graphene Oxid (GO) © STO-MP-AVT-304



Executive SummaryHigh performance and highly manoeuvrable air and sea military vehicles create separated and vortical flow fields that have a pronounced impact on vehicle effectiveness. Although air and sea vehicles are traditionally designed to maintain mostly attached flow at design conditions, they routinely develop separated flows within their broader operating envelope, such as at maneuver conditions, and occasionally even at cruise conditions. Separated flow effects cause performance penalties and can often restrict vehicle operating conditions due to such matters as stability, control, buffet, cavitation, and generation of noise. Separated flows and their effects are generally unsteady and very challenging to predict or measure. In spite of the importance of understanding separated flows for military vehicles, the last time a NATO meeting was held to determine the state-of-the-art in predicting and measuring separated flows was in 1975 (Symposium on Separated Flow published in AGARD CP-168). Considering the major improvements in prediction and measurement capabilities, the AVT-307 research specialists’ meeting was timely and important.

The AVT-307 meeting was held at Trondheim, Norway, 7 – 9 October 2019, and was attended by 70 participants from 15 nations. The affiliation of the attendees was fairly equally distributed between academic institutions, government laboratories, and industry. In total, 28 oral presentations were made, 19 for air vehicles and 9 for sea vehicles. Sea domain papers were dominated by authors from academia, with limited government and laboratory (and no industry) participation; the representation was more balanced for the air domain papers. Papers for the meeting were solicited for a wide spectrum of topics, including: juncture and corner flows, vortex flows from wings and bodies, wing stall and wake flows, shock/boundary-layer interactions, as well as free surface effects, ventilation, and cavitation. Papers were presented on many of these topics, including review/overview papers, computational simulation advances, and modern measurement capabilities (including validation data studies). The objectives for the meeting included a desire to: establish a baseline for current and anticipated air and sea vehicle issues regarding separated flow effects; establish the baseline of current capability to predict separated flow effects and to measure separated flow phenomena that are relevant to NATO air and sea vehicle needs; and identifying key areas requiring further research and development.

Snapshot of CFD generated multiple vortices for a missile © STO-MP-AVT-307

Separated Flow: Prediction, Measurement and

Assessment for Air and Sea Vehicles

(10.14339/STO-MP-AVT-307)




The large number of participants show the importance of the topic for the design, analysis, and operation of NATO air and sea vehicles. Being able to accurately predict and understand flow separation is important for both design and off-design conditions, including for the prediction of vehicle forces and moments, propulsion system requirements, vehicle performance (such as defining the operational capability envelope of the vehicle), vehicle signature issues during operation, vehicle dynamics and control for manoeuvring, and weapons deployment for air and sea vehicles, as well as launch/recovery of adjunct vehicles for sea vehicles. General observations about the presentations and topics covered during the AVT-307 meeting showed a general tendency to concentrate on model scale predictions with no applications to full-scale vehicles at operational Reynolds numbers. For example, for sea vehicles the difference between model and full-scale Reynolds number can be 2.5 orders of

magnitude, leaving many unanswered questions about our ability to effectively influence the design and analysis of vehicles with simulation and experimental capabilities that have not been validated.

We strongly recommend that AVT initiate task groups and/or meetings to evaluate our ability to accurately predict air and sea vehicle performance with separated flow at full-scale Reynolds numbers. This might require obtaining available data that would not require security limitations (such as the X-31 for air vehicles).

Slices coloured with streamwise velocity showing the boundary layer (top), and streamwise vorticity (bottom) for a generic configuration

of an underwater vehicle © STO-MP-AVT-307

Visualization of flow patern using three different models models for post-stall investigations at fully separated wings © STO-MP-AVT-307






FORGE AND NUTURE EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS – Growing the network of experts

“As the S&T landscape is global and increasingly driven by

commercial investments, it is critical to forge and nurture effective

partnerships with Partner Nations and non-traditional partners

from industry and academia (…) for the purpose of building

capacity and broadening collaboration. Further, the NATO

S&T community must build and nurture mutually beneficial

relationships with academic researchers and industry partners,

in Allied Nations as well as Partner Nations, through collaborative

research, experimentation, exercises, training and educational

activities.”


31



“Hello Dr Isikveren. Why is industry so involved in the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel? What is the return on your company’s investment?”

The NATO AVT Panel not only deals with specialisations associated with aeronautics but also covers a diverse array of technologies covering terrestrial, marine and space applications, including the integration of munition systems. Some topics of advanced research for aeronautics have in the past drawn, and shall continue in the future to draw cues from other technical sectors. This possibility of cross-pollinating innovation and invention across seemingly disparate technical sectors is certainly most advantageous. The added benefit of participating in the NATO AVT Panel and contributing to its technical activities is building a rapport with other professionals: many of the associates you meet and work together with in projects prime you for other projects outside the perimeter of NATO/AVT in the future.

“Dr Isikveren, thank you very much for that sales pitch. How important is the support of higher management for long-term research that probably does not create instant revenue streams?”

Contemporary management for industries producing high value-added engineering products do appreciate the fact that in order to maintain profitability in the future, agility focusing on the short-to-intermediate term is not sufficient. What is paramount is formulating a research and technology strategy that affords market dominance in perpetuity as well as minimising the cost in offering the products in the marketplace. The best way to achieve success in both of these aspects is to not only emphasise ideas characterised by low risk and a modest level of performance improvement, but to also invest time and effort into conceiving and experimenting (using both numerical, and physical testing) with riskier ideas that notionally infer a potential for significant gains. In addition, the revenue stream could be further strengthened by creating products that have built into them an innate and seamless technological progression between each product offering within the portfolio over time.

“In the spirit of basic research, the work within the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel mainly depends upon voluntary contributions. Such give-and-take approaches are somehow counter-intuitive to industry. Would you agree?”

Although industry is required to make an in-kind investment of precious employee resources and time to the NATO AVT Panel, there are many occasions where such participation would result in a windfall for the company. The very fact that NATO AVT actively promotes strong collaboration between government, industry, academia and research institutes means new opportunities for innovation and invention are indeed possible. Furthermore, since representatives from the variety of affiliations typically engage in structured Research Task Groups, Research Symposia and Specialist Meetings this secures a maximum amount of discovery and knowledge transfer amongst all participants. Finally, since the level of bureaucracy is modest in comparison to the more formal, administration laden national/continental funded programmes, opportunities to change the focus onto more important aspects of the topic are easier to implement.

“Dr Isikveren, you are not only a Senior Group Expert in the SAFRAN Group, but you are also involved as Editor and Reviewer for a number of Scientific Journals. From your experience, are there significant differences between those forums and this NATO format?”

Compared to how conventional national/continental funded programmes are conducted, the way in which technical conferences are organised and the publication of journal articles, the approach of NATO/AVT is rather distinct. Regarding the execution of projects, the concentration of resources and time devoted to the technical topics as opposed to an appreciable amount assigned to administrative processes is the most appealing feature. Publications of proceedings resulting from research symposia or technical meetings does provide value by recording for posterity presented work of contributors. Although a measure of scrutiny in terms of quality and technical merit for such presentations and publications is secured through a formal vetting process conducted by an assigned external Technical Evaluator, what is lacking is a deeper, more detailed

Interview: Dr habil. Askin T. Isikveren

INTERVIEW

We sat down for an interview with Dr habil. Askin T. Isikveren, Isikveren, FRAes, a Senior Group Expert SAFRAN Group.




level of critique usually offered by a double-blind peer review process typical of reputable journals. Today, this gap is somewhat filled by assigning high-calibre technical papers published in NATO/AVT proceedings to special issues of selected reputable journal publications. In the future, if NATO/AVT undertakes the major step of publishing its own recognised double-blind peer reviewed technical articles, this is certain to foster further esteem and relevance to the aeronautical sector.

“You have been engaged in the AVT Programme of Work for about three years. During that time you were quick to establish a number of activities filling recent research gaps in the AVT portfolio. How challenging has it been to get involved and to establish these activities?”

I was lead author of three proposals dealing with the research domain of hybrid/electric propulsion systems. In accordance with the NATO/AVT Panel procedure, the first step in the sequence of proposals was to initiate a so-called Exploratory Team, or, an activity intended to establish foundational knowledge about a topic through public domain literature surveys and the sharing of latest research conducted by a team expert contributors. Upon successful completion of the Exploratory Team effort, the level of ambition was quite high, and as such, a set of Research Task Group and Research Symposium proposals was fashioned concurrently. Since the topic of hybrid/electric propulsion has generated a great deal of interest in the civilian sector, albeit somewhat risky, it was deemed worthwhile to engage in both NATO/AVT activities simultaneously. The experience was generally quite a positive one when it concerns the administrative burden in making proposals. Each proposal document was limited to two-pages, and once an activity commences the status reporting process requested by the committee appropriate to your topic(s) proved not be too burdensome at all. I quite appreciated the streamlined approach of NATO/AVT and did have a good sense of the Executive Office ensuring that the resources and time of contributors were maximised to the greatest possible extent.

“Given your broad experience and insights in different formats, could you name three technological challenges that would need to be addressed in the field of Propulsion & Power Systems in order to stay relevant in this area?”

I suggest that the three technological challenges facing the field of Propulsion and Power Systems are:

• The investigation and selection of the most beneficial thermal (combustion) engine architecture that will meet future needs of low-observability attributes, ultra-low emissions and noise, realise peak performance during all flight phases, increase chance of survivability, improve dispatch reliability, reduce turn-around time as well as maintenance related down-time, reduce procurement cost and operating economics, minimise human-in-the-loop workload, and, offer platforms compatible with future aspirations of facilitating autonomous operations.

• A radical re-imagining of what constitutes propulsion and power generation: departing away from the traditional notion of engines serving a dual role of providing motive power for flight as well as being the source of primary power generation by way of mechanical off-takes and/or pneumatic extraction to run non-essential, essential and vital non-propulsive systems. The adoption of so-called hybrid/turbo-electric should be viewed as a possible pathway for delivering radically different operational requirements in the future. The emerging need of significantly large power generation customers, such as high-energy weapons, is but one of many salient example of radical departures from the conventional wisdom.

• When the scope of effort emphasises reducing overall aircraft power requirements, such novel approaches necessitate a departure from the conventional, disparate, weakly-coupled airframe-propulsion combination and require treatment of the design problem in a truly holistic sense, with attention placed upon maximising synergy from the outset. This infers that aircraft morphological selection and integration of the propulsion and power architecture should be designed concurrently, which certainly will tend to increase the level of complexity of the overall engineering solution.



“Finally, involving young people and encouraging them to actively shape their environment is key for all organisations, but especially for voluntary entities like the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel. Is there any magic trick you could share with us to help us continue to be successful in that area?”

First and foremost, the main way of motivating the upcoming generation is to imbue them with a genuine feeling that they will partake in a grand initiative that will serve to benefit society in a dramatic fashion. Understanding we are collectively part of “The Age of Omni-Sustainability”, that is, we all need to address many aspects concurrently, such as, curtailment of the anthropogenic impact to global climate change, ensuring continued security in view of ever growing geo-political conflict situations and escalating asymmetric threats,

stimulating growth in aviation; and, a continued commitment to maximising return-on-investment for the aeronautical sector. The upcoming generation of engineers, technologists and scientists need to be convinced that as global citizens they serve as both important stakeholders and as contributors to advanced technological development programmes. The best approach is to conduct a public relations campaign focusing on our youth, emphasising the utmost importance of seeking solutions to our future challenges, and highlighting that we welcome their energy, aptitude and ingenuity. What is also important regarding entry-level technical professionals is the emphasis placed upon continual professional development that addresses technical proficiency and leadership skills, and, commensurate with this, explicit and visible markers in recognition of their burgeoning level of expertise.

“Dr Isikveren, thank you very much for your insights.”






Executive SummaryNATO has a large capacity to undertake a wide range of military operations and missions. It is involved in managing crises, providing military training to various security forces, offering not only disaster relief operations but also implementing many peace keeping solutions. The future for a more efficient military capability that ensures the technological advantage of the Alliance and its partners requires the scientific and technology community to develop aircraft utilizing hybrid/electric solutions coupled with aero-propulsion systems for military applications.

The intent of Research Symposium 323 was to convene an international grouping of scientists, engineers, end users and other important stakeholders with a specific focus on military use of technologies related to hybrid/electric propulsion. This Symposium proved to be very successful, timely and pertinent regarding the technology challenges facing aviation today.

The Symposium offered two keynote speakers: Brigadier General Christian Leitges, Head of the Air Force Principles/Future Development Division, German Air Force Headquarters, Germany, who shared perspectives about future operational requirements; and Dr John Cavolowsky, Director of Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program, NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), United States, who provided an overview of technological strategies currently undertaken by NASA.

The Symposium organizers invited authors to consider submitting papers to address the following themes:

• Hybrid/Electric Propulsion Systems Architectures

• Electrical Energy Storage, Power Management and Distribution

• Electrical Machines and Power Electronics

• Integrated Thermal Regulation and Control Systems

• Synergistic Aero-Propulsion Technologies

• Integrated Vehicle Design

The theme that had the most audience participation and discussions with presenters was the Hybrid/Electric Propulsion Systems Architectures. The theme that had least dialog (perhaps due to least research done to date in this area) was the Integrated Thermal Regulation and Control Systems.

Hybrid/Electric Aero-Propulsion Systems for

Military Applications(10.14339/STO-MP-AVT-323)




Authors representing 16 nations with affiliations to academia, research institutes, industry and government presented 27 high-calibre technical papers in the following session topics:

• Hybrid/Electric Research: A Global Perspective (4 papers)

• Systems and Architecture (4 papers)

• Aircraft Conceptual Design (6 papers)

• Integrated Power-trains (7 papers)

• Integrated Vehicle Design (6 papers)

The Technical Evaluation Report includes not only a selection of the “best” five papers (one paper from each of these session topics) but also the basis for making this selection in the Evaluator’s opinion.

The goals of the NATO Science and Technology Organization for advanced propulsion system technologies and associated architectures applied to military aircraft were generally well covered during Symposium discussions. These goals include:

• peak performance during all steady state and transient flight phases

• low observability attributes

• accommodating payload requiring large amounts of instantaneous/sustained non-propulsive power

• improved survivability and dispatch reliability

• minimizing human-in-the-loop workload by offering a platform compatible with future aspirations of facilitating autonomous operations

The information shared during this Symposium was value-added and the technical discussions between the audience and the presenters was beneficial to all. The Symposium highlighted the need to collaborate on a targeted military requirement—possibly selected by the Symposium Program Committee working with NATO military leaders. If such a requirement or set of requirements could be articulated, it would go a long way to engage the combined wisdom of the technical community to help create a viable, applicable, and certifiable solution.

A recommendation for the next workshop/symposium of the scientific community is to focus on a targeted military problem/challenge/issue to guide solution options. The Research Task Group 310 on Hybrid/Electric Aircraft Design and Standards, Research and Technology was encouraged to organize the next workshop/symposium to bring together technologists, academia and industry to address a military targeted outcome/opportunity in a global way.

“Exonetik demonstrated Inside-out Ceramic Turbine prototype (left) and turbogenerator conceptual architecture (right) © STO-MP-AVT-323



Executive SummaryThe NATO Reference Mobility Model (NRMM) is a simulation tool aimed at predicting the capability of a vehicle to move over specified terrains. NRMM was developed and validated by the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC: Changed in FEB 2019 to CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center) and Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in the 1960s and ‘70s, and has been revised and updated through the years, resulting in the most recent version, NRMM II. NRMM is traditionally used to facilitate comparisons between vehicle design candidates and to assess the mobility of existing vehicles under specific scenarios.

Although NRMM has proven to be of great practical utility to the NATO forces, it exhibits several inherent limitations. It is based on empirical observations, and therefore extrapolation outside of test conditions is difficult or impossible. It cannot simulate contemporary vehicle designs and technologies, nor does it benefit from advances in simulation and computational capabilities. This led to the formation of Exploratory Team 148 followed by Research Task Group AVT-248 to develop a Next-Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model (NG-NRMM).

Seven Thrust Areas were formed within AVT-248, including GIS Terrain and Mobility Map; Simple Terramechanics; Complex Terramechanics; Intelligent Vehicles; Uncertainty Treatment; Verification and Validation (V&V); Data Gaps and Operational Readiness. As part of the V&V Thrust Area, software developers were invited to compare their state-of-the-art, physics-based mobility models against actual test data for a tracked vehicle and a wheeled vehicle on both paved surfaces and soft soil. The developers were able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their models and enhance their models to meet the goals of NG-NRMM.

The deliverables from AVT-248 included a simple terramechanics prototype demonstration, a complex terramechanics prototype demonstration, the V&V benchmarking exercise mentioned above, and the initial release of a STANREC documenting the requirements for an NG-NRMM. All of these are covered in this Final Report. In addition, two complementary Research Task Groups were spun off as new activities: – a Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (AVT-308); and a STANREC RTG to continue to upgrade and manage the initial STANREC release (AVT-327).

Next-Generation NATO Reference MobilityModel (NG-NRMM)

Development (10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-248)

France VBCI infantry fighting vehicles stuck in deep mud during military exercise © 1er Régiment Etranger de Génie - 1er REG




NG-NRMM is vital to NATO’s mission as it will add new capabilities in the design, modeling, and simulation of a broad class of vehicles, with the potential to reduce costs and improve performance.

This could yield a new paradigm for ground vehicle mobility with the possibility to model complex vehicle maneuvers in high fidelity. AVT-248 was initiated in January 2016 and concluded in December 2018. At the conclusion of AVT-248, the committee included 70 appointed members and contributors representing 15 nations in all.

UW-M Simple Terramechanics modeling prototype NG-NRMM Speed-Made-Good performance results over the

Monterey terrain

Sample USCS Soil Types and Bulk Density © STO-TR-AVT-248



Executive SummaryFatigue and decreased performance among personnel can be observed during armed forces training and missions under specific conditions. The effect of vibration on the human body is among those factors that can have a negative influence on personnel. It can result in fatigue in actual time and in permanent health problems after end of duty.

Certain factors and problems are common to some kinds of civil vehicle operators. A system of prevention can be implemented using standards. The main task of the current project was to evaluate vibrations from two points of view – the magnitude of the vibration and its duration.

During the course of the current project, a basic methodology and the resulting measurements were used to calculate human exposure to vibration.

The objective of the study was to develop measurement methods and evaluation criteria for assessing the risk of vibration exposure to both vehicle structures and military personnel for vehicles operated in the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic.

The main problems to be addressed in this project to achieve the objective were:

• Identify requirements for sensors and data acquisition systems used to measure vehicle vibration and Whole Body Vibration (WBV) of vehicle occupants;

• Identify installation requirements and sensor locations to maintain data integrity for in-vehicle measurement while satisfying safety requirements for vehicle operation;

• Establish the required data analysis techniques and suitable software platforms to process the data;

• Identify approaches to select the most suitable evaluation metric based on the application; and

• Develop methods to assess the measured vibration data in order to assess the risk of vehicle degradation that may lead to reduced operational readiness/availability for the vehicle; and WBV that may lead to short-term or long-term impact on military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic.

This NATO STO/AVT support project aimed to develop monitoring tools and a medical surveillance system for personnel on transport vehicles used by the Slovak Armed Forces.

A team of specialists from the supporting nation cooperated with specialists from the supported nation in different fields, in finding the right recording methods, developing suitable signal processing methods and data evaluation methods aimed at whole body vibration behaviour assessment.

Evaluation of In-Vehicle Vibrations and Their Effect on

Vehicle Structures and Personnel Health and

Performance (10.14339/STO-TR-SVK-CAN-AVT-16-1)




In the project, measurements were performed to assess vehicle responses to external forces and to evaluate how these may affect the life of the vehicle, and degrade the comfort and performance of the vehicle operator and passengers.

The result of this cooperation has been the establishment of a systematic methodology for surveillance. Methods are based on experimental measurements, analyses, and the requirements of international standards. The theory used is specified in Chapters 3 – 5. Examples of the processing of real signals are contained in Chapters 8 – 9, followed by the interpretation of results.

Crew members of all kinds of platforms are exposed to vibrations resulting in higher stress levels and reduced performance © Spanish Air Force



AVT Panel Business Model

The Science & Technology Organization – NATO’s Catalyst for S&T

The Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel is one of seven collaborative expert bodies operating under the NATO Science & Technology Organisation (STO). Created within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington in 1949, the STO is a NATO subsidiary body with the same legal status as NATO itself. The STO is governed by the Science & Technology Board (STB), which gathers the authorities for defence-related research and development from each NATO nation and is chaired by the NATO Chief Scientist. The STO reports through the Conference of National Armaments Directors and NATO’s Military Committee to the North Atlantic Council and liaises with other relevant organisations within the Alliance.

In NATO, S&T is addressed using different business models: (1) The collaborative business model where NATO provides a forum where NATO nations and partner nations elect to use their national resources to define, conduct and promote cooperative research and information exchange; and (2) the in-house delivery business model where S&T activities are conducted in a NATO-dedicated executive body, with its own personnel, capabilities and infrastructure.

The NATO Science & Technology Organization is organically embedded in the NATO S&T Community

STO





The Panels – The Power-House of Collaborative S&T in the Alliance

In general, all panels operating in the collaborative working environment consist of up to three representatives from each NATO nation, augmented by Associated Members from partner nations, such as Australia, Finland and Sweden, as well as military organisations such as the Joint Air Power Competence Centre (JAPCC). In addition, panels are free to invite subject matter experts, so called Members at Large, in order to strengthen specific areas of interest. The panels conduct two business meetings hosted by individual nations in April or May and October or November every year.

The scientific and technological work is carried out by Technical Teams for specific research activities which have a defined duration. Those activities are complemented by single Event Activities gathering state-of-the-art knowledge, such as Workshops, Symposia and Specialists’ Meetings; as well as Educational Events presenting work to an audience outside the NATO S&T community using Lecture Series and Technical Courses. The portfolio is rounded off by ad hoc, short-term teams that investigate narrow areas of interest on behalf of the panels or provide advice and assistance to military bodies.

NATO STO’s expert panels cover almost the entire spectrum of S&T related to defence research and capability development

AVT — Applied Vehicle Technologies Vehicle, platform, propulsion and power systems - land, sea, air, and space

HFM—Human Factors and Medicine Optimize Health, Safety, Well-being and Performance of humans in operational environments

IST — Information Technologies Information Warfare & Assurance,;Information & Knowledge Management; Communications & Networks; Architecture & Enabling Technologies

SAS — System Analysis & Studies Studies & analyses of operations & technology; develop methods & tools

SCI — Systems Concepts & Integration System of Systems approach across spectrum of platforms & operating environments; integrated defense systems

SET — Sensors & Electronics Technologies Reconnaissance, Surveillance & Target Acquisition; Electronic Warefare; Communications & Navigation; Multi-sensor integration/fusion

MSG — Modelling and Simulation Group Maximize the effective utilisation and co-ordination of M&S



The Decision-Making Process – Providing Coherent S&T in NATO In order to guard NATO’s and nations’ resources, a multi-stage decision making process in the STO guarantees the coherent development of S&T for the Alliance and its partners. In case of the AVT Panel this starts with (1) the submission of the proposal or request to the Technical Committee or the AVT Panel Office by February 15 or August 15 each year. Those will be (2) discussed by the committees during their biannual meetings. Beside their scientific merit and military relevance, formal criteria such as a minimum of four different sponsoring nations or NATO entities as well as the best-practice criteria of the AVT Panel have to be met in order to (3) be endorsed or approved by the Panel. Finally, most of the decisions need (4) the approval of the STB following the panel process. All technical teams (5) are asked to provide oral status reports to their sponsoring committees during their term and (6) all activities have to be concluded with a Technical Report, Technical Demonstration or other deliverables defined in the beginning of their work.

AVT BEST PRACTICES:

• Only proposals for ad-hoc, short-term activities are discussed in Spring.

• All proposals are welcome in Fall.

• Proposals must have the names of individuals willing to participate.

• Proposals need to be introduced to the Technical Committee by the designated Chairs or Mentors.

Generic decision making process in NATO STO

(1) Activity Proposal

To be submitted to the Technical Committee or the AVT Panel Office by February 15 or August 15 each year.

(2) Committee

To discuss new proposals’ scientific merit, military relevance and meeting of formal criteria in their meetings.

(3) AVT Panel

To ensure the relevance of the format for stake-holders and to endorse activities during their biannual meetings.

(4) S&T Board

To approve most activities and to safeguard the significance to NATO and nations.




The AVT Panel Business Model – Maximizing Synergies for Nations and Partners

The primary objective of the AVT Panel is to conduct and promote S&T activities that augment and leverage the capabilities and programmes of NATO’s S&T Community throughout its Programme of Work by contributing to the Alliance’s ability to enable and influence security- and defence-related capability development and threat mitigation.

Moreover, the AVT Panel has committed itself to serve as a forum forging and fostering mutual partnerships amongst its stakeholders in order to strengthen individual commitments and collaborative trust. At its very beginning, the Panel created a framework of biannual conferences inviting all sponsored activities to meet in the same location during the same period as the Panel itself generating synergies for each individual and nations. Due to its exceptional good research and constant delivery of relevant results, the AVT Panel has championed this unique business model within the Science & Technology Organisation, resulting in a working environment regularly attracting more than 600 scientists, engineers and members of the military.

This vital aggregation of expertise has made the AVT Panel an incubator of excellent working groups addressing a broad spectrum of technical and operational challenges, ultimately driving a significant part of the STO’s Collaborative Programme of Work.

AVT’S MISSION STATEMENT

The Applied Vehicle Technology Panel strives to improve the performance, reliability, affordability, and safety of vehicles through advancement of appropriate technologies. The Panel addresses platform technologies for vehicles operating in all domains, for both new and ageing systems.

(4) S&T Board

To approve most activities and to safeguard the significance to NATO and nations.



“Hello Dr Fedina. You have recently been involved in the NATO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel. Why is that? Sweden is not even a NATO member.”

No, but we are an Enhanced Opportunities Partner and are welcome to participate in the collaborative research projects. As a small country with limited means to spend on defence research, the gain in participating in NATO-STO-panels activities is much greater than the effort of participation. If we participate in or collaborate to form own research programs under the AVT Panel in areas that are aligned with our national research programs, one can see it as an extension of our own projects but with results coming from several nations free of charge.

“Dr Fedina, thank you very much for that sales pitch. As a Senior Scientist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) your involvement in the Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel is still relatively recent. From your perspective, what are the main benefits for your daily work resulting from that international collaboration?”

As my involvement is relatively recent, the primary direct effect of it is that I feel less lonely in the work that I do. Other equally important benefits are an increased personal network and awareness of what other research institutes are doing in the same research area. As a Technical Committee (TC) Member, the involvement also enables me to spread the information regarding potential collaborations to my colleagues.

I’m just starting to get a grip on the variety of topics that are covered by the panel and which topics could be introduced to broaden the panel’s portfolio and at the same time be aligned with my personal research interest. For instance, I’m noticing that the topic of military ground vehicles is clearly underrepresented.

“NATO’s AVT Panel is a consensus-based voluntary working environment, which works differently compared to the line-based national entities that send their representatives. Was it hard to settle into this environment?”

Not really, since the work that is done in the task groups is usually aligned with the national interest of the participants.

“You were quick in adapting to this new environment and have been asked to chair one of our recently approved activities that will look into autonomous military ground systems. What are the main challenges addressed by this group and why is an international collaboration in this area important?”

Autonomy is a disruptive technology that is destined to have impact on the future armed forces. Which capabilities will be enhanced or which new capabilities will be added are yet to be determined as every nation is experimenting with the use of autonomous military (ground) systems to see how these can be utilised. International collaboration in the area of autonomy is importation for both sharing experience in using the U(G)Vs in the field and also combining efforts in autonomy and autonomy related research.

The Research Task Group (RTG) that I am co-chairing is focusing on challenges related to assessing mobility of military UGV. The goal of the RTG is evaluate methods and approaches used to

Interview: Dr Ekaterina Fedina

INTERVIEW

Dr Ekaterina Fedina, Senior Scientist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), had some time to sit down with us in an interview.

Artist’s impresion surface-to-surface missile RBS15 © Saab




assess to the mobility performance and reliability of autonomous ground systems and to establish a mobility assessment framework that would be specifically designed for assessing autonomous mobility. Among several deliveries, the RTG is aiming at benchmarking the current state-of-the-art software tools in performance of a relevant set of autonomous mobility scenarios and conduct Cooperative Demonstration of Autonomous Mobility Technologies (CDT), both simulation and physical demonstrations.

One major challenge is the ability to evaluate methods for assessing the autonomy’s capabilities that do not yet exist. Other challenges constitute formulating relevant scenarios for UGV in which the autonomy’s mobility can be assessed. Technical challenges include simulating the environment for the autonomy to navigate through, establishing the level of detail that is needed, sensor simulations and the interaction with vehicle controls and dynamics.

“Dr Fedina, the Panel’s portfolio covers a broad area of platform-related research across all domains. Given your background in the field of high explosives, what potential topics are not yet addressed by AVT’s Programme of Work?”

Weapon physics, e.g., afterburning of detonation products, interior and exterior ballistics, rocket plume signatures.

From the simulation perspective there are many challenging topics to work on (that can also be applicable to applications) such as multiphase combustion of explosive compounds and propellants, shock-turbulence interactions, chemical kinetics of explosives and propellants. From the experimental perspective, the experiments can be used to both elucidate some of the unknown processes and for validation purposes.

And again, military ground vehicles is another topic that I find is lacking representation. Or perhaps the topic is on the rise and the activities in AVT-341, AVT-ET-196, AVT-327 are maybe just the start?

“What do you think could be the best way to start new activities in the areas you mention, under the sponsorship of the AVT Panel?”

A general AVT-workshop where participants are invited to share their current and the need for the future research in the area of weapon physics. Thereby finding common interest and possible collaboration activities.

“Finally, in what direction does the AVT Program of Work need to be developed in order to stay attractive to researchers at the beginning of their careers?

Encourage rotation of panel representatives and TC members, since it is their responsibility to inform and promote the AVT activities to their respective nations. I think that given the opportunity to collaborate in an RTG, the AVT Program of Work in itself would already be very attractive for most young researchers. However, information about these opportunities needs to reach them.

“Dr Fedina – thank you very much for your insights.”

Swedish Stridsvagn 122 from the 192nd mechanized battalion © forsvarsmakten.se

Swedish submarine in front of Rotterdam habour © Saab






PROMOTE PROTOTYPING AND TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION

–Remaining relevant for stakeholders

“NATO S&T will support the acceleration of capability

development through more prototyping and technology

demonstrations without diminishing the foundational activities

in knowledge generation and dissemination. This will require

the active support of the Alliance. NATO S&T will promote and

reinforce activities that provide direct pathways to utilisation,

such as prototyping and technology demonstrations (…), as well

as concept development, and experimentation via exercises

and experimentation in Nations and NATO. These efforts inform

National and NATO acquisition programmes, providing proven

options for technical baselines and technology insertions,

informed by warfighter experience with their operational

relevance and impact.”


49



Executive SummarySponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Science and Technology Organization (STO), NATO’s Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel formed a Research Task Group (RTG), AVT-248, which consisted of seventy-one persons from fifteen nations to develop a Next-Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model (NG-NRMM). The end result of the AVT-248’s four year effort was demonstrated at the NG-NRMM’s Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (CDT) event, September 25 – 27, 2018, held at the Michigan Technological University / Keweenaw Research Center (MTU/KRC) in Houghton, MI, USA. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center (CCDC GVSC) supported the CDT to showcase the differences between legacy and next generation mobility prediction software.

Headquartered at the U.S. Army’s Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, USA, CCDC GVSC is a major research, development and engineering center for the Army Materiel Command’s Research, Development and Engineering Command. The CDT event provided a forum for contributing committee members and software developers to highlight a prototype process that showcases the state-of-the-art in mobility prediction and simulation technologies through a loosely integrated set of methodologies and tools. Attendees were introduced to NG-NRMM technologies through a variety of presentations and demonstrations and were able to witness a physical demonstration of a military prototype vehicle performing select mobility tests in a variety of soil conditions and observe a simulation of the same test with the legacy and next generation mobility prediction software. In addition, participants experienced off- road mobility challenges through multiple ride-along opportunities over a variety of terrains representative of Eastern Europe. This technical memorandum summarizes the CDT event and actions performed, describes the value added, identifies gaps, and outlines a path forward to address many of those gaps.

Cooperative Demonstration of Technology (CDT)

for Next-Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model

(NG-NRMM) (10.14339/STO-TM-AVT-308)




Dr Michael Hoenlinger introducing the participants of AVTs technology demonstration to the Next Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model

Mr Scott Bradley from Michigan Tech University - Keweenaw Research Center orchestrating the benchmarking of tracked and wheeled vehicles during the technology demonstration



Executive SummaryNext generation military aircraft will confront increasingly contested and increasingly sophisticated threat environments. To enhance the survivability of future aircraft in these environments will require new approaches to flying aircraft. Legacy approaches, using deflecting surfaces that open gaps and seams in the aircraft surface, are at odds with the demand for enhanced survivability. Novel approaches focussed around the application of Active Flow Technology (AFC), involving seamless technologies without the requirement to deflect conventional flight control surfaces, offer the promise of full aircraft flight control without compromising low detectability.

The NATO STO AVT-239 Research Task Group came together to investigate the application of novel flight control technologies to aircraft manoeuvring. Candidate AFC technologies were identified, developed, and assessed against key vehicle performance and vehicle integration criteria (e.g., complexity, maintainability, reliability). The goal was to identify the technologies that minimized the reliance on conventional control surfaces during different portions of the vehicle mission profiles. The aerodynamic performance of these technologies was tested on two platforms representative of next generation tailless aircraft (ICS and SACCON/MULDICON) for a representative ingress mission phase. These evaluations combined experimental measurements in wind tunnels and high-fidelity numerical simulations. The aerodynamic data were then incorporated into flight dynamics simulations where flow control technologies were used to provide flight control in lieu of conventional control surface deflections. These flight simulations were run for a representative one-hour ingress mission scenario with the aircraft subject to light/moderate turbulence and moderate gusts.

In tandem with these performance evaluations, conceptual design studies provided interior aircraft layouts in which the control technologies were integrated. These studies allowed team members to evaluate the “ilities” metrics of the aircraft design and to perform a technology readiness assessment. The culmination of these three activities was a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) evaluation where each flow control technology was graded in an objective and consistent manner against a set of defined measures. The objective of the research activity was to identify system integration impact, the barriers to implementation and the next steps required to implement these technologies on a full-scale aircraft.

Innovative Control Effectors for Manoeuvring of

Air Vehicles(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-239)

Preferred Flow Control Suite Consists of Trailing Edge Slot Jets and Fluidic Thrust Vectoring © STO-TR-AVT-239




This study concludes that AFC technology is both feasible and reasonable for application to next generation air vehicle platforms represented by the ICE and SACCON/MULDICON platforms with respect to the impact such systems would have on mission performance, integration, and propulsion integration. For the ingress mission phases, both trailing edge tangential blowing/circulation control and yaw fluidic thrust vectoring appear to be the most promising technologies.

Areas highlighted for future R&D investment include AFC valve reliability/maintainability and the maturation of technology, integration, and manufacturing readiness to level 5 or greater. Further assessments are proposed to explore the application of AFC to the take-off/landing and manoeuvring mission phases.

A comprehensive framework for integrating flow control into the preliminary aerodynamic design process of a next generation UAV and assessing its system impact on that aircraft has been established.

Fundamental concepts and evolution of flow augmentation techniques on the trailing edge of a wing



Executive SummaryThermal loads continue to grow as more powerful, capable and denser electronics continue to be integrated on air, land, and sea vehicles. Increasing thermal loads are already constraining operations on current military platforms. Next-generation systems including advanced radar, electronic warfare systems, electromagnetic rails guns, and solid-state lasers will significantly increase thermal loads, further straining the existing thermal management infrastructure. Legacy design practices for thermal systems are outdated. There are many opportunities to rethink and optimize the thermal management architecture for future cooling loads.

Consideration of thermal management for current military platforms typically occurs late in the development cycle. System level analysis is often based on invalidated component and subsystem models. Underperforming thermal systems designed using these low-fidelity models often limit platform capabilities. Successful implementation of thermal design early in the design cycle requires validated thermal tools in order to ensure operation of electronic systems to their design specifications, optimize platform efficiency, and avoid costly fixes.

The objective of the AVT-226 was to assess thermal validation methodologies in order to establish thermal design practices for future military platforms. These results are intended to educate practitioners and decision makers on best practices for thermal tool validation. Specifically, the Task Group was tasked to design and fabricate a common test bed to be circulated among several national laboratories for experimental characterization to validate the component models for a steady state environment. In addition, formulation of a thermal analytical model for test bed verification, and to develop an understanding and quantification of uncertainty as it influences the validation process was completed.

Five experimenters participated in acquiring experimental data for this study: Purdue University (PU, USA), and Matra Defense/ BAe Dynamics/ Aérospatiale (MBDA, Germany), as well as NLR (Netherlands), Georgia Tech, and the US Naval Academy. The execution of the test plan proved to be extremely valuable. Initial issues with lack of repeatability, environmental influence upon the temperature measurements, and an inconsistent level of uncertainty were identified early in the test plan. By identifying and resolving these issues early, the test results had a much higher degree of repeatability, a notable reduction in the influence of the environment, and a dramatic reduction in the uncertainty of the measurements. These improvements enabled the updated experimental results to be compared among the experimenters. Additionally, the improved experimental results allowed a more precise determination of the influences of the flow rate and heater power input on the temperature measurements.

Overview Report on Validation of Thermal Models for Air, Land, Sea and Space

Vehicles (10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-226)




“Hello Dr Caetano. What does this Applied Vehicle Technology Panel you are involved in do for the armed forces and the military?”

Good morning Sir, thank you for this opportunity. In contrast with most of the Air Force goals and focus, which are related to present issues, air protection and near-future operations, the AVT Panel promotes the cross-national development of technology and production of knowledge for long-term developments, that are meant to be used in the production of next generation technology for the armed forces and military. With a defence-related network of over 600 researchers, AVT continuously promotes research at a scientific and industrial level, elevating the stakes and outcomes of the alliance.

“As one of the NATO founding members, Portugal faces a number of defence and security-related challenges today. What are the top challenges for Portugal that could be supported by scientific efforts in the upcoming years?”

Indeed, much like every other nation in the alliance, Portugal has specific scientific requirements that must be addressed to assure that the country remains in the forefront of protection and safety. With respect to scientific topics related to the AVT panel, Portugal focuses on:

a) Advanced and Adaptive Materials, for armour/protection (incl. CBRN), signature reduction/deception, lightweight weapons and communications, and advanced sensors; materials include polymers, smart materials, nanotechnology, composites, ceramics, and meta-materials.

b) Unmanned Platforms, including automated and autonomous vehicles for air, land, above water, and underwater operations, as well as robotics for medical operations.

c) Mission Autonomous Systems: the ability to achieve a single mission autonomously, employing adaptive behaviours, taking into consideration task, and sensed status of self, environment and threat.

In view of cross-panel activities, three things are worth highlighting:

• Multi-Domain Situational Awareness, for contextual and spatial understanding of complex operations to enable timely decisions, including cyber, intelligence, network and spectrum situation awareness and the use of augmented/mixed reality techniques and visual analytics.

• Human Decision Making, improving time-critical human decision making in complex tactical and operational environments. Particular emphasis on decision theory to identify relevant information with associated rationality, as well as decision making under conditions of uncertainty and stress.

• Big Data and Long Data Processing and Analysis, supporting intelligence analysts in handling vast amounts of data across a breadth of mission areas, to detect trends and anomalies as well as to conduct forensics.

“Dr Caetano, as Researcher and Operator of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems you have insight into the military and research dimension of national and NATO S&T. From your perspective, what are the most common misunderstandings between both stakeholders?”

Interesting question. I cannot say that there are misunderstandings; conversely, there might be misalignments in the ways and means to achieve a certain goal. While, on the one hand, decision makers on the national side see NATO’s S&T approach as a

Interview: Dr João Caetano

INTERVIEW

We interviewed Dr João Caetano, specialist in Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and current Vice-Chairman of AVT’s Strategic Committee.

Maritime patroling utelizing Remote-Piloted Air Systems such as Elbit’s Hermes 900 enhancing survailance capabilities

© timesofisrael



world of opportunities with immense potential for the development of breakthrough research; on the other, the turnaround time takes, very often, longer than 2 years to be seen. This fact, when added to the typical two-to-three year positions occupied by military decision makers, makes the return on investment hard to assess, hence causing misleading conclusions on higher hierarchies and, consequently, low priority in terms of national and international bets in S&T within the NATO context.

“Bringing together operators and scientists was one of the main arguments to establish the NATO Science & Technology Organisation and its predecessor organisations. The numbers show that we still have an imbalance between members of the military and scientists participating in AVT’s activities. What do you think has to be done to get more operators involved?”

Judging by the hidden conductor line in the previous answers, one can already predict that one of the aspects hindering operators from being represented in such S&T panels is the fact that military resources are focused on present, day-to-day, issues and near-future operations. This fact, together with a relative short time between transfer for higher hierarchy, results in a preoccupation on current matters, instead of selecting specific resources to dedicate to the production of high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) technology that stemmed from S&T activities.

“From your experience, do S&T entities have to better explain the long-term benefits of science to operators and if so, what could be the right message(s)?”

While an explanation could help, a possible option could rely on directly addressing the military branches and invite them to participate in Panel Business Weeks and Collaborative Demonstration of Technologies, which take place quite often within the panels. This, however, would have to be a combined action from the seven panels. People, regardless of age and hierarchy, tend to think the same: once you are part of something, you will devote more resources to it.

With regards to Portugal’s top challenges, how do you see the benefits of collaborative networks, like the AVT Panel, supporting your mission at home?

Easy: the total result is much bigger than the sum of the parts. Portugal is actively involved in cross-nation research activities in additive manufacturing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle certification requirements, fire detection and modelling, as well as ammunition lifecycle and contamination related matters, within the AVT panel alone. This, in turn, is aligned with the main challenges presented in epigraph.

“Finally, in what direction does the AVT Program of Work (PoW) have to be developed in order to stay relevant for young members of the military and scientists like you?”

Interest goes both ways – if, on the one hand, young scientists should try to feel motivated by the current PoW and goals of the AVT panel; on the other, it is a role of the AVT committees to foster new topics and interests within the field of vehicle technologies, establishing the correct network and cross-panel contacts for the introduction of new topics, proposed by new scientists. In this respect, and looking at AVT alone, I am certain that this is being done in the proper way by the Panel and committees, with a great motivation and driving force of the AVT Executive, Mr Christoph Mueller. To him, as well as to the Panel members and committee chairs, my most profound acknowledgment for all the prestigious work and fantastic guidance.

“Dr Caetano – thank you very much for your insights.”

More than 97 percentage of Portugal’s territory is water and requires novel approaches for to control those © mapsontheweb




ENHANCE ALLIANCE DECISION MAKING –Addressing real world demands

“Knowledge, tools and methods derived from National and

NATO S&T investments and programmes must support and

inform critical decisions across a spectrum of domains. These

range from policy to operations to acquisition and investment

decisions. (…) Providing the relevant NATO S&T data, analytical

methods, and tools to support this wide array of decision

makers requires close engagement, regular communication,

and a clear understanding of near to far term needs.”


57



Executive SummaryIn many military applications of electrical energy storage, higher energy storage density leads to greater utility. During the last few years, lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous for portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones and lap-top computers. Lithium-ion batteries now dominate the battery rechargeable battery market in terms of numbers produced. Moreover, demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to continue to grow until at least 2020. In the last decade, several major lithium-ion battery incidents appeared in the news. The first involved the Boeing Dreamliner, and the second a Tesla automobile. It proved impossible to identify the precise origin of the fault from the charred remains of the batteries. A short-circuit had obviously occurred at some stage, but it was unclear what had happened inside the battery prior to that.

It is an unfortunate reality that larger size battery packs correlate with larger magnitude fires or explosions, in the event of an incident. The fielding of state-of-the-art battery technology is often being constrained by concerns over safety. Despite being rendered unlikely by system design, the consequences of a catastrophic battery failure can be so severe that the overall risk is judged unacceptable.

The safety issues extend beyond the sudden release of energy that is possible during certain modes of failure. Because batteries store chemical energy, catastrophic failure is generally accompanied by the release of a variety of chemicals, many of which are toxic to personnel or damaging to electrical equipment, vehicle systems and to the environment. Consequently, much research and development is being carried out to realise safer, high energy density, military battery technology. There are now lower voltage (and lower specific energy) lithium-ion batteries available that can deliver high currents safely, plus are safe with accidental overcharge. The AVT-227 Technical Team considered the balance between energy density and safety for different applications of various advanced batteries. The size of battery, or module, considered was up to 100 kg.

Artist’s impression of lithium battery designed to fit in a light armoured vehicle © STO-TR-AVT-227

Balancing Energy Storage with Safety in Large Format

Battery Packs(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-227)




Lithium-ion safety is ensured by a combination of prevention, mitigation and protection systems. Global systems safety can only be ensured at system and application level. Large battery systems communicate with their operating system in order to coordinate the safety control with the user need, including power and energy availability, or cooling systems control.

Augmentation of human or platform performance such as the HULC-exoskeleton will require powerful and safe battery © Lockheed Martin



Executive SummaryThe primary purpose of this task group is to identify and collect enduring bench mark problems in Multidisciplinary Optimization and Design that represent a variety of multidisciplinary optimization and design issues for military vehicles. The purpose of the benchmark problems is to aid the development, assessment and promotion of multidisciplinary optimization and design methods. The availability of bench mark problems provide a means of verifying and validating new methods, define a process for multidisciplinary optimization and design, show the potential along with the limitations, and provide confidence in analytical results to anchor for certification.

The goal of the task group is to establish standards for multidisciplinary optimization and design benchmark problem descriptions for land, sea and air military vehicles and establish a repository of bench mark problems according to those standards.

The topics of interest to this working group fall into three categories: Optimization and design methods, analytical methods, and physical testing. Problems of interest in these categories address land, sea and air military vehicles.

Benchmarks for optimization and design methods address techniques such as multi-objective and multi-level optimization, the applicability of the methods, optimization and design for robustness, and the processes associated with each method.

Benchmarking analytical methods represent to some degree the degenerative case of optimization and design, where the design space has been reduced to a single point. However, it is still important to understand these problems, especially the applicability and limits of the analytical methods for that defines the part of the design space in which reasonable results can be expected. Analytical methods issues of interest include analysis tool limits, tool fidelity interaction, virtual representation of manufacturing quality to address scale-up issues, and uncertainty quantification.

Benchmarks in Multidisciplinary Optimization

and Design for Affordable Military Vehicles Report

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-237)

Comparing of the Final Design (Red) and RAF 3D Concept (Black) in the preliminary design phase of a blade of a turbine

© STO-TR-AVT-237




Physical benchmarks are used to validate point designs within the design space to increase confidence in the analytical results. Of primary interest with the physical benchmarks is to obtain as much information as possible regarding the test to increase reusability of test results.

Optimization results half-span planforms for the Efficient Supersonic Air Vehicle (ESAV) © STO-TR-AVT-237



Executive SummaryNATO navies must effectively and affordably procure new warships that deliver required future naval capabilities. This demands an understanding of how requirements, threats, environment, tactics, and technical solutions together influence effectiveness and cost. These complex relationships give way to multiple, competing objectives that plague the warship acquisition process. To enable informed acquisition decisions and reduced risk, military effectiveness and cost must be considered from the earliest stages of design.

A sound approach to define the acquisition decision tradespace is to generate and analyze many design variants. This kind of large-magnitude design exploration requires a collaborative multi-disciplinary team of modelers, subject matter experts, and data analysts to take an exploratory approach to discovery in the data. It requires integration of expert opinion, scenario models, and the more traditional physics-based performance models. The NATO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel Research Task Group 238 determined that the successful integration of models for assessing military effectiveness, ship sizing and synthesis, and cost estimating provides the insights necessary to procure more effective and affordable warships. This was demonstrated by leveraging existing tools and processes with a focus on integration of data and interactive visualization of results.

The group explored four timely and relevant use-cases related to ongoing procurement projects within the participating nations. Each use-case represented a different phase of the procurement process. This allowed the team to document the value of the approach across a spectrum of applications. A first use-case demonstrated how the approach could be used for pre-concept exploration of design alternatives for a Corvette. A second use-case involving an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) design highlighted the ability to visually communicate and explore a multi-mission tradespace. The third use-case, a Mine Counter-Measure (MCM) ship, demonstrated how the approach could be used to inform the requirements definition process. The final use-case, also an MCM ship, investigated the influence of variable concepts of operations on design decisions. Each of the use-cases considered large and diverse sets of alternatives, with variations in ship size and design, ship systems, mission scenarios and concepts of operations.

Early Stage Warship Design and Procurement for

Operational Effectiveness and Affordability

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-238)




An early evaluation of design alternatives will allow better educated design selections leading to more robust procurement decisions

The NATO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel Research Task Group 238 successfully developed a framework for integration of models for assessing military effectiveness, ship sizing and synthesis, and cost estimating. The framework enables users to identify the impact of design decisions (with respect to scenario, technology, and CONOPS) on effectiveness and affordability. Most importantly, it allows practitioners to identify the most cost-effective warships for various budget constraints and scenarios.

Of note, this effort did not investigate tactical and fleet considerations. The group recommends that future studies extend the work to also integrate fleet organization impacts and interactions. This would extend the demonstrated capability to also support capability gap analyses and operational planning.

Examples of ship designs resulting from the mine-countermeasures vessel ship synthesis model

© STO-TR-AVT-238



Executive SummaryGlobal chemical regulations have evolved over many years with increasing growth recently due to greater public awareness of human health and environmental risks. New regulations, industry and NATO member interests in the use of safer materials, as well as market availability for materials, are driving changes in the hazardous materials used in products and processes for military vehicles. Specifically, the impact of the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation has created the need for greater understanding of where substances are used in products and processes, as well as the dependencies on various substances in the supply chain. While some exemptions or exceptions may be granted for military applications, these are not common across all requirements and nations. A significant effort has been expended to address issues raised by the removal of materials, chemicals and processes which, if left without action, could have a serious consequence on the deployability of military assets due to the diminishing availability of restricted chemicals and services worldwide.

In the context of NATO operations, the different environmental policies between NATO countries could affect the interchangeability and interoperability of NATO forces in terms of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of military vehicles. To address some of the common technical issues related to environment, the AVT-114 Task Group carried out collaborative studies from 2003 to 2006 to develop engineering qualification test plans/procedures for utilizing advanced environmentally compliant materials and processes in protective coatings. Subsequently, the AVT-247 Research Task Group performed from 2015 to 2018 an extensive survey of alternative technologies and practices in several NATO countries with a view to providing general guidelines on environmental solutions. The findings of the survey are presented in this technical report.

The four chapters of this report are contributed from Canada, Italy, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom. The authors of the chapters share their perspectives on environmental regulations, alternative technologies, military applications and future challenges. In Chapter 1, Canada focuses on several environmentally compliant coating technologies qualified to replace hard chrome plating and cadmium plating for aircraft landing gear and gas turbine engine components. New surface treatment processes are also discussed in the chapter as potential alternatives. Chapter 2 from Italy analyzes the effect of European Union (EU) regulations and individual country decrees on future use of restricted chemicals such as chromates in primers and sealants for airframes. It stresses the need and benefit of creating NATO environmental policies governing the interchangeability of member countries’ specifications to ensure the interoperability of different platforms. The Netherlands in Chapter 3 discuss the issues regarding replacement of chromate containing consumables, ranging from obsolescence of consumables in the EU that are still prescribed on USA aircraft to certification of environmentally compliant paint systems in the Netherlands.

Environmentally Compliant Materials and Processes for

Military Vehicles(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-247)




In order to comply to environmental standards novel paintings have to be used such as the total chrome free scheme for the displayed C130J © STO-TR-AVT-247

The United Kingdom in Chapter 4 describes methods for assessing risks to materials obsolescence resulting from legislature, before discussing ongoing work to ensure compliance and materials availability within the land and maritime environments.

It is recognized that achieving full compliance with global environmental regulations is a challenging process, especially for military applications where the deployability of mission-critical platforms is essential. Although each of the countries that contributed to this report have its own programs for managing hazardous materials, a common NATO environmental framework for military vehicles is desirable. This is particularly pertinent when considering the interoperability of NATO platforms participating in joint operations. As presented in this report, while industry has been active in developing environmentally friendly technologies and products for the consumer market, NATO can still play an active role in facilitating their military applications by formulating common policies, sharing the lessons learned and promoting best practices among member countries.

Technicians carrying out grinding operations that require respiratory protection making those procedures costly

© STO-TR-AVT-247



Executive SummaryNATO relies on a capability to operate and perform 24/7 in harsh environments. Often, the “harshness” is due to Environmental Particulates (EPs), ranging from pollution and aerosol to sand and dust, maritime sea spray, and Volcanic Ash (VA). Ingestion of sand, VA, or other particles can cause significant degradation of propulsion system performance and lifespan, and increase the cost of ownership. Throughout NATO countries, progress has been made in the ability to:

1. Sense (where, how much, and what types of EPs are present);

2. Protect (or mitigate); and

3. Coordinate/standardize (improved advisory and regulatory procedures).

In 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland resulted in a default decision – shut down the European airspace to avoid the EP issue. We are now asking, what can our gas turbine powered propulsion and power systems tolerate and how can we assist our flight authorizers, mission planners, mission executors, and fleet maintainers in making informed, risk-based decisions on operations when EP encounters are encountered or anticipated?

AVT-250 is addressing this problem and comprised of experts from academia, industry, and government across contributing NATO partners who are:

1. Conducting research on EP;

2. Using test and evaluation methods to assess EP impacts to aircraft systems; and

3. Developing methods to extrapolate this knowledge to mitigate the consequences of EP encounters to aviation operations.

Gas Turbine Engine Environmental Particulate

Foreign Object Damage (EP-FOD)

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-250)

Turboshaft inspected in Afghanistan showing servere deteriorations caused by the harsh operational environment

© STO-TR-AVT-250




This Technical Report does not include water-based EP Foreign Object Damage (FOD), e.g., rain, hail and ice crystals, as numerous detailed reports on this subject exist elsewhere, but does cover the following EP-FOD elements:

• Sand/Dust: Sand-sized particles of mineral dust (silicate minerals, soil oxides and carbonates) sourced from arid environments. EP comprising particles lifted from the ground by dust storms, sand storms, dust/sand clouds from operations, and rotor and propeller washes. This includes silica and reactive compounds like Calcium-Magnesium Alumino Silicates (CMAS).

• Volcanic Source: Fragmented silica-rich glass and crystals of volcanic origin. EP comprising ash, gases and other effluents from volcanic activity found in the atmosphere, including sulphur dioxide (SO2) clouds.

• Combustion: (Pollution): EP such as pollution, smog, and the products of fires (e.g., forest and oil), including effluents from chemical, oil and gas industries.

• Maritime: Salt particles generated by agitation of the ocean surface. EP encountered in a marine environment of salt or salt mist constituents.

This Final Report has three main thrusts – type of EP-FOD particulates (Chapter 3), the effects of EP on turbine engines and other systems (Chapter 4), and the overall impacts of EP to operations (Chapter 5).

Chapter 1 is an introduction and discussion of background to the problem.

Chapter 2 presents collected responses (written and oral) to an EP survey of NATO equipment operators. The team collated the responses into a meaningful format.

Chapter 3 provides critical reference material for distinguishing the different EP types found in areas around the world, which are typical of the EP events reported by NATO equipment operators.

Chapter 4 builds on Chapter 3 by exploring real world encounters between gas turbine engines and EP at different exposure levels, utilizing modelling and simulation.

Chapter 5 is focused on “user needs,” and therefore is written as a stand-alone document that can be extracted from the full AVT-250 Final Report, and easily used as a “back pocket” document by military mission stakeholders (aircrew, aircraft maintainers, mission planners, decision makers, and advisory centres).

The AVT-250 Technical Team’s conclusions and recommendations include continuation of the collection of data on EP encounters, applying the knowledge extracted from these data in establishing enhanced engine design and test methods to mitigate EP effects. Additionally, the team includes recommendations to enhance the robustness of the tools, models and other products that establish best practices for actual/anticipated flight in EP environments, using the AVT-250 recommended “graduated risk” approach.

Enhanced multi-source simulation is an imperative for improving probabilistic estimations of cloud hights © STO-TR-AVT-250



Executive SummaryDue to high procurement costs associated with replacing aging aircraft fleets, NATO Nations are frequently required to operate their aircraft for longer than the original design life. Because of the extended life requirements and the fact that aircraft have likely flown more severely than designed, aging aircraft issues are a significant problem when it comes to maintaining the airworthiness of these aircraft. Given the unique situation each NATO nation experiences because of the different operational environments, maintenance procedures and flight envelopes, an opportunity exists for the various nations to share their best practices relating to ensuring the airworthiness of aging aircraft systems within this Task Group.

A workshop, AVT-222, was held in October 2015 at which time various NATO nations made presentations on how they were ensuring the safety of aging aircraft (airframe and systems). The results from the workshop highlighted the aging aircraft issues, which the nations are experiencing, that are seriously impacting aircraft airworthiness and availability. At the conclusion of the workshop, it was agreed that a focus on common maintenance airworthiness issues would help in strengthening the Maintenance Organizations’ ability to meet airworthiness requirements. AVT-275 was created to fulfil this role.

The objective of this Task Group was to develop a technical report containing the best practices and lessons learned that exist in NATO nations for aircraft structural, propulsion, and mechanical systems.

The documented best practices on continuing airworthiness of aging aircraft systems aim at capturing the unique aptitudes that have developed in each participating nation. With these documented practices, the different NATO nations will be able to adopt them as they see appropriate. This has the potential to decrease the cost of maintaining aging aircraft systems since the procedures/processes have already been developed by other nations.

The main topics of this report include:

a) General continuing airworthiness management policy/approach;

b) Aircraft structural systems;

c) Propulsion systems; and

d) General aircraft systems including Mechanical sub-systems, Avionics sub-systems, etc.

Assessment of the capability to detect cracked F-16 pre-Block 40 wing spars using one-step process digital X-ray

equipment at a tilt angle of 30° © STO-TR-AVT-275

Continuing Airworthiness of Aging Systems

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-275)




The primary motivation is that NATO Nations have similar methods (design criteria, analysis, testing, usage monitoring, aircraft damage surveillance, etc.) and results (acceptable mishap rates and tolerable experience associated with discovering unanticipated issues that must be corrected) for ensuring continuing airworthiness for the aircraft structure; but that there is a diverse approach with mixed results for safety-critical systems in various NATO military aircraft. Conversely, key differences in how some Nations sustain aircraft may lead to modifications in what should be done for other safety-critical systems, for example safe-life approach, and factors used for safety-by-inspection.

Aircraft structural systems have the most developed integrity program, with Propulsion systems well-defined and becoming matured. Mechanical systems are progressing, but many lessons from structural and propulsion integrity programs could be used to further mechanical systems integrity program efforts. Employing aircraft structures-like methods may improve the overall aircraft continued airworthiness, especially at or beyond the original service life limit.

Validation of flight loads computation process © STO-TR-AVT-275



Executive SummaryThere is a growing awareness that exposure to ammunition-related compounds and the combustion products thereof may cause adverse health effects in military and law-enforcement personnel on a short and/or longer term. Assessing the health hazard resulting from these exposures poses a challenge, as approaches used in industrial occupational hygiene are not applicable as such to exposure in a military training and the operational context.

AVT-277 is addressing the hazard assessment of exposure to ammunition-related constituents and combustion products thereof. This group initiated the AVT-322 Research Specialists’ Meeting on ‘Combustion Products, Exposure and Related Risks’. The purpose of this Specialists’ Meeting was to share results and visions on this topic, and to discuss how to move this topic forward.

The meeting was held at Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, 20 – 22 May 2019, and was attended by 42 participants from 16 nations. Most of the delegates were affiliated with (defence) research organizations and Armed Forces/Ministries of Defence. There were five representatives from industry. In total, 15 oral presentations were held, including a keynote lecture. The presentations covered the whole spectrum of the topic: from computer predictions of the emission products formed to health effects on a short and long term. Obviously, this field of work requires input from a variety of disciplines. The presentations were of high quality and invoked lively and open discussions. Discussions were further stimulated via an interactive survey prepared by the Programme Committee, providing the audience with multiple-choice answers that were neither fully right nor completely wrong.

The relatively high attendance at the meeting proves that awareness of the importance of this topic is out there; the next step is to take a joint approach to tackle this issue. Most of the nations present expressed a need for guidelines to predict and experimentally evaluate the potential health hazards of ammunition-related compounds. In view of the breadth of the topic, a multi-disciplinary approach is clearly needed, ranging from thermodynamics to medicine, with disciplines such as analytical chemistry and toxicology in between. Evaluating the exposure to combustion products of soldiers

when using ammunition is critical for Environmental and Health Risk Assessment © defense.gov

Combustion Products, Exposure and Related Risks

(10.14339/STO-MP-AVT-322)




It is recommended to establish an AVT-HFM cross-panel Research Task Group as a follow-on activity addressing the topic of potential health hazards of ammunition-related compounds in its full breadth, i.e., the technical as well as the medical aspects. Tasking such a group with defining a standardized experimental approach to characterizing combustion products from ammunitions should be considered. An interactive survey, in which none of the multiple-choice answers is fully right or wrong, is recommended as an effective instrument to initiate open and lively discussions at scientific meetings.

Methodology for the measurement of post-detonation explosive footprint presented at AVT’s Specialists’ Meeting © STO-MP-AVT-322






FOCUS ON ALLIANCE NEEDS TO BOOST IMPACT

– Delivering timely and targeted advice

“NATO S&T activities are largely focused to support capability

development. The STB has therefore established a set of S&T

priorities and initiatives that are firmly rooted in the Alliance’s

needs, as expressed in the NATO Defence Planning Process.

The NATO S&T Priorities are driven by broad applicability

to military capability requirements, as well as opportunities

arising from emerging and disruptive advances in science and

technology, in order to guide medium to long-term S&T planning.”


73



“Hello Dr Zimper. Why is Hypersonic that important for NATO?”

Speed matters and high speed matters more! The core attributes of Air Power are Speed, Height and Reach. Hypersonic weapons systems are a game changer as they benefit all of these attributes tremendously. High speed is combined with manoeuvrability and relatively low flight altitudes resulting into unpredictable trajectories, high survivability as well as assertiveness.

Actually, there is no defence against these kind of weapon systems besides deterrence. Even worse, it seems that NATO’s peer competitors are ahead of the game, which could result in a backdrop in the Alliance’s defence posture. That is why collaborative forums such as the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel are of utmost importance to accelerate and multiply national efforts to develop counter measures.

A number of military planners are currently concerned about peer-competitors fielding hypersonic capabilities. Should NATO and nations be worried?

When you think about the core attributes of air power, which is speed, reach and height and think about the potential application of hypersonic weapons systems, they will benefit all of these core attributes of air power. They’re fast, they manoeuvrable, they’re flying at low altitude, which makes them not predictable, which is actually giving a big advantage and being of game changing nature. From that perspective the expressed concerns of militaries are legitimate.

In short: have a look at the systems presented during the 70`s anniversary parade of China and the announcements from Russia concerning the Avangard system.

What would be military relevant applications for hypersonic vehicle?

First, hypersonic glide vehicles are hypersonic weapon systems that would be launched by a conventional launcher and then be separated from the launcher in the upper atmosphere or outside the atmosphere. In a second phase the vehicle would re-enter into the atmosphere and would glide without propulsion at an altitude of 30 or 60 kilometres. It would fly at very high speed, something like five kilometres per second for thousands of kilometres. Finally, the system would dive into a target at less but still significantly high speed.

Second, hypersonic cruise missiles that could be ground launched or air launched most likely with a booster system in order to accelerate the missile to hypersonic speed. Once it reaches the required speed, a so-called air breathing ScamJet engine would take over for a sustained cruise flight at hypersonic speed for about 30 or 35 kilometres before it dives into the target at a specific point. A hypersonic cruise missile would be at technical range, so we’re talking about thousand to one thousand five hundred kilometres.

Dr Zimper, what are the main technological challenges towards hypersonic operational capabilities?

Due to the extreme environmental conditions at hypersonic flight, the development of hypersonic vehicles is extraordinary challenging ranging from flight control systems, propulsion technologies as well as structures and materials, on-board sensor suits to system integration aspects. Consequently, it is a variety of challenges that need to be tackled. For defensive systems additional challenges come into play from a system architecture perspective. Think about the required sensors for the find, fix and track part of the kill chain when considering high speed, manoeuvrable threats flying at low altitude. You have an issue due to the curvature of the earth because sensors on the ground can only sense to a specific point. Hence, at a height of 30 kilometres, one could detect the target first at 700 hundred kilometres distance. Considering the speed of those systems only about two and a half minutes remain for the entire decision making process and the successful intercept of an incoming threat.

Interview: Dr Dirk Zimper

INTERVIEW

We interviewed Dr Dirk Zimper, Executive Board Representative Defence & Security at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).




You are involved in the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel since 6 years and as German representative you are responsible for a majority of your nation’s contribution. From your perspective, what could be the role of collaborative forums like this in order to tackle the challenges related to hypersonic research?

For instance, the availability of well-known national experts in the Panel allowed us to establish a Specialist Team on Hypersonic Operational Threats. The intent was to create awareness on that topic within NATO and NATO nations, on various levels leadership, general staff members because we had a very strong feeling that we do not know a lot on hypersonics, the application and what it really means for the military. This forum allowed us to reach out to a broad international community bringing together complementary expertise benefiting the individual nations and the Alliance. The recently published report significantly advanced the understanding of implication of hypersonic technologies on doctrines, organisation, training, material, leadership, facility, personal, leadership and interoperability. That allows us to get a better understanding of what kind of challenges are going along with it; that’s something we try to achieve with every report.

Dr Zimper, with your background as Executive Board Representative Defence and Security Research in the German Aerospace Centre you have also a profound inside in national developments. How do you envision the way forward regarding hypersonic research in the context of NATO S&T and its relations to national research efforts?

Basically two things are needed. First, operators and key decision makers need to have a better understanding about the implications of hypersonic weapon systems, on their specific characteristics, potential performance as well as limitations. Therefore, a close cooperation as well as coordination between the operational costumer and the technology provider have to be involved in order to addressing these various fields. Second, the collaborative environment of NATO’s S&T allows nations to share the burden of research in broad areas and to individually focus on necessary developments to boost national procurement programs.

To close the loop, how does the collaborative work in the AVT Panel enrich your national programs you are responsible for and how does it have to be developed to stay relevant?

The AVT Panel and its community represent the largest collaborative group of experts under the NATO Science and Technology Organization capitalizing on its unique business model of two semi-annual conferences. The continuous exchange as well as the synergy effect generated by the Panel allows a highly efficient participation for individual contributors like the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). In the recent past the AVT Panel took several measures to further develop its relevance and excellence of its products for nations as well as the Alliance. Amongst others, the implementation of the peer review process will offer the opportunity to engage new stakeholder. Even more important are from my perspective the intensified cooperation with military think tanks such as The Joint Air Power Competence Centre (JAPCC) and the path towards technology demonstrations that was re-vitalized by the Panel a few years ago. Both allow us to show-case the importance of our work and inform decision maker about the future requirement trade-space.

Thank you very much for your insights.

The German Science & Technology Board Member, Dr Dirk Zimper, gives a keynote at the Joint Air and Space

Power conference in October 2019



Executive SummaryHypersonic weapons constitute a new challenge to NATO. Currently increasing efforts are being observed from NATO nations’ peer competitors to develop hypersonic offensive weapons with tactical and strategic range. Russia and China have performed numerous flight tests with various powered and unpowered vehicles. At the same time, technology work within NATO and NATO nations on hypersonic weapon systems appeared to be discontinuous and at a slower pace.

In this context, the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel of NATO’s Science and Technology Organization decided to form a Specialists Team (AVT-ST-008) to compile information about the status, issues, and capabilities related to hypersonic weapon systems in NATO and peer nations. Experts from eight nations and three NATO/military institutions contributed to this work. The Core Report provides an overview of hypersonic weapons systems and their potential military application benefits for the NATO alliance as well as operational and currently developing threats of this type from peer competitors of NATO. The Scientific and Technology Annex provides complementary technical background, breaking down major technological challenges of hypersonic flight and research, assessing the current state of technology, and identifying remaining challenges and gaps of knowledge; elements of which are summarized in the Core Report as well.

Hypersonic flight is defined as flight within the atmosphere at speeds around and beyond Mach 5. Hypersonic systems considered here include: Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV) (non-powered, maneuverable Hypersonic Vehicles), Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCM) (powered, air-breathing Hypersonic Vehicles) and Hybrid Threats (between a ballistic missile and HGV having characteristics of both). Four nations (China (CHN), India (IND), Russia (RUS), and the United States of America (USA)), are developing and testing hypersonic weapons. Other nations, (e.g., Australia (AUS), France (FRA), United Kingdom (GBR), Japan (JPN), Norway (NOR) etc.) are contributing to the overall progress in hypersonic research but have no indigenous hypersonic weapons programme. CHN and RUS claim to be in an advanced stage and close to full operational capability for HGV’, but the RUS Avangard might not be operational with the proclaimed capabilities by 2019 as advertised. The analysis of internet information shows, the RUS ZIRKON or the IND BrahMos II HCM’s might be operational in less than 10 years.

Assessment of the Status and Challenges Posed by

Hypersonic Operational Threats

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-ST-008)




In any case and even by adding some years until full operational capability status of hypersonic weapons, they bear some additional challenges to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). The probability of penetrating NATO’s defensive capabilities, the extremely high speed resulting in compressed timelines to decide, react and defend hypersonic vehicles, and last but not least the destructive power just caused by the kinetic energy constitute new challenges for deterrence posture. Hypersonic Operational Threats (HOT) will pose a significant problem for current NATO capabilities/capacities and it is recommended to perform a deep analysis of near future adversary capabilities and the according assumed courses of actions. This analysis should include:

• Consequent and detailed research/study of potential HOT and development of realistic enemy courses of action;

• Preparation of all levels of Command and Control (C2) for this new threat and amend the current doctrinal basis;

• Adaptation of current capabilities or development/procurement of new capabilities to close gaps for a sustained level of protection in accordance with the identified timelines;

• Adaptation of the enabling capabilities, defensive architecture and infrastructure to be able to cope with this threat; and

• Incorporation of HOT into NATO’s Education, Training, Exercises, and Evaluation (ETEE) at all levels to be prepared for this kind of threat.

Finally, in addition to the focus on the development of new defensive capabilities, national and multinational agreements on information security and non-proliferation, including an export control, should be pursued to mitigate this threat. The more nations that can be convinced to join these efforts, the more effective the measures will be.

In conclusion, the key points have been summarized into a number of high-level recommendations to inform planners and key decision makers from military, government and S&T community from NATO nations. These include:

• With NATO adversaries ahead of the alliance on fielding of disruptive hypersonic capability and NATO S&T experts expecting the first hypersonic operational threats in the next five (5) years, immediate actions are needed in order to reduce the period of actual capability gaps.

• Defensive capabilities should be a priority among all of the NATO alliance and due to the required great expenditure of resources NATO allies should leverage national investments through a greater exchange of intelligence, research and design activities as well as more cross-utilization of national research capabilities, facilities and decommissioned military hardware. NATO nations need to act at the “Speed of Relevance” accelerating the development of defensive capabilities by combining their resources for joint cooperation and fielding, initially, of at least a limited operational capability.

• NATO should develop a joint vision utilizing the experience from a subset of NATO allies. Further, the NATO Defence Planning Process should be called on to define the requirements and determine capabilities, including the development of solution roadmaps and initial Doctrine by appropriate NATO nations. Additionally, NATO should review the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) Policy and provide an annex for defence against Hypersonic Operational Threats.

• With a new class of hypersonic weapons close to fielding, the proliferation of operational hypersonic systems will start to become an issue in the near future. Therefore, NATO should identify means to hinder proliferation.



Executive SummaryThe prediction of vortical flow fields, as well as the resulting static and dynamic aerodynamic behavior of delta wings and highly agile aerial vehicles configurations, has been the subject of several AVT activities over the past 20 years. In AVT-080, AVT-113 and AVT-183, flow physics prediction with high-fidelity CFD methods, and comparisons with experimental data for delta wing aerodynamic flow phenomena, have been the focus. Flow phenomena such as vortex breakdown, flow separation on sharp and round leading edges, as well as flow separation due to highly swept wings have been studied extensively. These studies have included the impact of turbulence models and numerical methods on the prediction of flow features. For example, AVT-183 specifically collected experimental data to analyze the effectiveness of turbulence models to predict flow separation around round leading edges on swept wings.

These investigations regarding prediction capabilities have been extended within these Task Groups and follow-on activities to real-world aircraft applications such as the F-16XL CAWAPI, X-31, and a generic NATO AVT aerial configuration, SACCON. These follow-on activities took place in Task Groups AVT-161 and AVT-201, as well as the Specialists’ Meeting AVT-189, all on the topic of “Stability and Control Prediction Methods for NATO Air Vehicles”. These last three activities not only focused on the flow physics prediction, but also on the overall aerodynamic behavior, dynamic derivatives prediction and the layout and assessment of control devices with respect to the entire flight envelope and multiple flow regimes. All of these activities applied an integrated approach including experiments from wind tunnel investigations, flight test data, and the use of high-fidelity computational methods to define and understand the flow and performance areas of interest. Further, they all have in common the goal to achieve an enhanced prediction capability using an integrated CFD / Experimental approach.

The Task Group AVT-251 was established to use the outstanding knowledge base, expertise and qualified methods from these previous Task groups to re-design the generic aerial platform SACCON, used in AVT-161 and AVT-201, to demonstrate the capabilities of a computational multi-disciplinary design approach. The aim of the AVT-251 Task Group was to re-design the aerial configuration SACCON based on given requirements of a desired mission and a defined flight envelope. The design should incorporate several additional design aspects and disciplines, depending on the availability of expertise and capabilities by the contributing nations and connections to other Task Groups. The goal was to demonstrate the performance of the designed configuration based on the requirements of the mission definition. Finally, the design strategy and use of advanced design tools should be documented and evaluated with respect to applicability and reliability of the used approach and methods. All of this was to be done without additional wind tunnel testing for the new configuration.

Multi-Disciplinary Design and Performance Assessment of

Effective, Agile NATO Air Vehicles

(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-251)




Within AVT-251, the main achievement was to demonstrate that the UCAV demonstrator MULDICON was able to conduct specific mission requirements that were typical for an advanced, agile UCAV configuration. The design trade studies were conducted within the framework of multiple groups, including design, aerodynamics, controls, structures, and engine integration groups. These groups were able to re-design SACCON within various constraints (including maintaining the leading-edge sweep angle) and came up with a feasible configuration which was named MULDICON.

All of these studies and design aspects were conducted within a group that lasted for three years, and within the regular constraints of STO task groups (all participation was voluntary, face-to-face meetings twice a year, and other meetings by electronic means at the expense of the participants). The time and resource requirements of the study were recorded, as well as results of how well the task group worked and how effective the resulting design was able to achieve the requirements and constraints of the mission.

Although the disciplinary spectrum was not comprehensive with respect to a fully approved design, all major design disciplines required to prove the validity of the demonstrator have been involved. First of all, the design specification group which defined the mission requirements and oversaw the integration of all elements for the design. The aerodynamic shaping group provided the loft and aerodynamic performance assessment. The control concept group provided the controllability for all six degrees of freedom under constraints of a reduced visibility. The engine integration group conducted the engine boundary condition as well as inlet and nozzle design. The structural concept group laid out the structural design and assessed the static and dynamic characteristics.

This study represents a good example of how modern design and analysis tools can streamline the design process, as well as being able to come up with a feasible configuration within a reasonably short period of time. The MULDICON configuration has similarities to a number of other modern UCAVs and represents a feasible design that would have controllable flight characteristics at angles of attack that will make the configuration agile and capable of fulfilling more challenging missions.

US Air Force Academy Kestrel flow development with different angles of attack using the common SACCON platform

© STO-TR-AVT-251



Executive SummaryThe Simulation-Based Design (SBD) paradigm is rapidly replacing the traditional build-and-test design approach for naval and aero military vehicles, offering innovative out-of-the-box design opportunities for the 21st century previously not realizable due to technological limitations. Enabling technologies include high-fidelity multi-physics fluid/thermal/structural high-performance computing analysis capabilities; local and global optimization methods; computer-aided geometry modification methods; operational and environmental modelling methods and recent advancements in stochastic uncertainty quantification (AVT- 191 “Application of Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification to Military Vehicle Design”). All of which enable the development/implementation and demonstration of robust and/or reliability-based design capability. AVT-252 Task Group “Stochastic Design Optimization for Naval and Aero Military Vehicles,” was organized to demonstrate stochastic design optimization capability for real-world fluid / thermal / structural military vehicle design problems of interest to NATO with geometric / operational / environmental uncertainties and/or constraints, including management of large number of uncertainties; thereby, providing new methods, best practices and identification of future collaborative research. The goal was to design configurations that are less sensitive to environmental variability and/or geometric imperfections due to manufacturing, aging, icing or other contamination.

The scope of this effort is stochastic optimization (optimization under uncertainty), i.e., Robust Design Optimization (RDO), Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO) and combinations, including both single and multiple objective functions. The focus is on methodology development/implementation with demonstration and assessment applications for naval and aero military vehicles. The methodologies include problem formulation; establish standard terminology; Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) methods; optimization methods; design variables; geometry representation; shape optimization, structural optimization, combinations and others. Four disciplines were selected for model problems: external/internal aerodynamics; aero-elasticity; and ship-hydrodynamics. These problems cover a broad range of flow physics, compressible and incompressible flows, and multidisciplinary flow-related physics. They have a broad range of boundary conditions such as constrained flow with finite boundaries; unconstrained flows with free boundaries; and coupled solid-fluid and fluid-gas boundary.

Stochastic Design Optimization for Naval and

Aero Military Vehicles(10.14339/STO-TR-AVT-252)




Wave patterns at slow, medium, and high speed for baseline (left) and optimal (right) geometry in calm water © STO-TR-AVT-252

The problems included multiple operational and geometric uncertainty parameters, UQ methods, design parameters, single and multiple objective RDO and/or RBDO, objective functions

and optimizers. A benchmark NACA-2412 airfoil problem is used to assess and compare the performance of the UQ methods.

This report contains assessments made by team members from ten countries: Belgium, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Turkey, and United States. The contributions span industry, academia, and government laboratories. The results of the Task Group are presented in the report with chapters covering overview of UQ and stochastic optimization methodologies; outcomes of the four disciplines model problems; benchmark UQ method assessment and comparison study; and overall conclusions and recommendations.

The overall conclusion is that current stochastic design optimization methods are sufficiently mature for the practical application in the design of naval and aero military vehicles.

Cross-sections for the stochastic design optimum (red) and the parent hull (blue) for discussion the Technical Team AVT-252

© STO-TR-AVT-252



Executive SummaryNATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and a Specialist Team (ST) from the Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) Panel within the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO), AVT-ST-006 – “Exploitation of Additive Manufacturing in NATO”, have surveyed the status of and possibilities for Additive Manufacturing (AM) in NATO operations via a questionnaire. The survey aimed at discovering the national Ministries of Defence (MoDs) plans and coordination, collecting information on ongoing activities and future plans for AM in the nations, as well as learning how the nations are modifying their policies, concepts and logistics chains to support this adoption. The survey also sought national views on how and where NATO could add value in AM, with particular emphasis on logistics. The questionnaire was answered by fifteen nations and the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).

From the answers received, military AM activities are typically performed by a central or joint entity of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). There seems, however, to be limited coordination of AM activities across government, in general, and within the MoDs, in particular. In most of the nations, however, there seems to be a well-established governmental strategy for AM at national level and in the MoD. Lessons learned emphasize that AM is (still) in an early phase of its technology life cycle, and is undergoing rapid development and change. As a result, numerous technology features are evolving. In addition, there are many different AM processes and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), which further complicate the ability to select the most appropriate technology for each application, navigate issues associated with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), standards development, and certification of processes and materials for use in the defence sector, where quality and safety can be critical to mission success. Cooperation between industry, Research and Development (R&D) entities and end users is essential to achieve the capability goals. Furthermore, it is emphasized by the nations that AM is not a replacement for traditional manufacturing technologies, and it is not expected that AM will entirely replace conventional manufacturing, due to, for example, cost and performance disadvantages compared to their conventionally manufactured counter parts. On the other hand, AM will generally lead to digitalization and freedom of design, and will be widely adopted in the near-term future.

With respect to NATO’s multinational role, nearly all respondents indicated that prototyping/production and logistics hold the greatest AM potential. Challenges on a multinational level are seen in the areas of certification, qualification, standardization, and IPR management. Moreover, technical challenges associated with AM (such as material properties, part size, reproducibility, training and availability of qualified personnel, material feedstock, surface finish and post-deposition processing, AM hardware robustness, and combining multiple materials into a single part), as well as non-technical challenges (including the need for a national focus and ambition to pursue AM, the need for configuration management to trace materials and parts, environmental impact and affordability), are seen.

Perspectives on the Use of Additive Manufacturing

in NATO Operations: NATO Joint Logistics

and (In-Field) Production Capability

(10.14339/STO-TM-AVT-ST-006)




Based on the input from the respondents and nations, as well as the ST’s own experience and expertise, the ST made some recommendations for future directions for the use of AM in logistics and for in-field production capability for NATO operations. The ST suggests actions/initiatives in developing NATO standards and recommendations for the set of materials and production processes to be used in NATO operations, a NATO digital library for spare parts, material characterization and test set-up for quality assurance of printed parts used in NATO operations, establishing the infrastructure for NATO joint logistic operations, and science and technology collaborations and information exchange within NATO.



Executive SummaryThis report has been produced by a team established by the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) to provide rotorcraft technology input to the NATO Joint Capabilities Group Vertical Lift (JCG-VL) Team of Experts (ToE) for a Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC). A previous STO activity relating to Future Rotorcraft Requirements (AVT-245) identified common rotorcraft needs, replacement timeframes and opportunities for the NATO rotorcraft fleet; this is reported separately.

The importance of helicopters in past and current military operations is widely recognised; in addition, the current state of technology is such that significantly enhanced capability is now achievable.

This report provides an overview of technical areas considered to be key drivers for future rotorcraft design. For each of these areas, an assessment of the operational benefits, enabling technologies (including a view of their current readiness level and likely attainment of Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6), their impact on other areas, the key players and links to other NATO activities was undertaken. The technical areas considered were, in no particular priority order:

• Active Flight Control Systems;

• Advanced Avionic Architectures;

• Increased Performance;

• Human Factors;

• Survivability;

• Materials and Manufacturing; and

• Cost of Ownership Reduction.

Future Rotorcraft Technologies

(10.14339/STO-TM-AVT-ST-005)

Tilt-rotor concepts such as Bell’s V-280 Valor are designed for high speeds and longer range missions required by the future

operating environment © Bell




Conclusions and recommendations for each technical areas are presented, a number of wider conclusions are:

• Defence budgets are likely to remain constrained leading to the use of monitoring technologies that will lead to a reduction in cost of ownership.

• Future rotorcraft will be required to transport similar payloads to today’s vehicles over longer unrefueled ranges at greater speed and in “hot and high” conditions without sacrificing agility.

• It is expected that future rotorcraft will become increasingly modular, adopting an open architecture approach across all installed systems (including on board aircraft systems, mission systems and Defensive Aids Systems (DAS). Modularity will not be confined to avionics but will encompass structural elements and mission packages allowing common airframes to support a wide range of missions.

• The operational environment is likely to become increasingly hostile with adversaries deploying complex threat weapons, often in asymmetric situations. Enhancing platform survivability is considered a high priority and in particular the ability to react to evolution of the encountered threat rapidly.

• Human Factors Integration will become more significant as higher levels of automation are adopted for reducing crew workload. The possibility of operating future helicopters with or without aircrew will also be a consideration, as will the ability to team between manned and un-manned platforms.

• There is likely to be increased use of virtual integration and model verification during the design cycle of a new vehicle.

Future requirements of capabilities projected by vertical lift assets will need a shift towards new designs © helicopassion



Acronyms

ACT Allied Command Transformation

AFC Active Flow Technology

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

AM Additive Manufacturing

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

AVT Applied Vehicle Technology Panel

AWB DLR’s Acoustic Wind tunnel Braunschweig

C2 Command and Control

CBRN Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear

CCDC U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command

CDT Cooperative Demonstration of Technology

CFD Command and Control

CMAS Calcium-Magnesium Alumino Silicates

CMRE Centre of Maritime Research & Experimentation

CONOPS Concept of Operations

CSO Colaboration Support Office

DAS Defensive Aids Systems

DLR German Aerospace Center

DNS Direct Numerical Simulation

DoD Department of Defense

DOTMLPFI

doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and interoperability

EP Environmental Particulates

ERDC Engineer Research and Development Center

ETEE Education, Training, Exercise, and Evaluation

EU European Union

F-2 ONERA’s F2 tunnel

FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency

FOD Foreign Object Damage

GIS Geographic Information System

GO Graphene Oxid

GVSC Ground Vehicle Systems Center

HAP High Altitude Platform

HCM Hypersonic Cruise Missiles

HFM Human Factors and Medicine Panel

HGV Hypersonic Glide Vehicles

HWB Hybrid Wing Body

IAMD Integrated Air and Missile Defence

ICE Innovative Control Effectors

IPR Intellectual Property Rights

JAPCC Joint Air Power Competence Centre

JCG-VL Joint Capabilities Group Vertical Lift

KRC Keweenaw Research Center

LOE Line of Effort

MCM Mine Counter-Measure

MoD Ministry of Defence





MRO Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

MTU Michigan Technological University

MULDICON MULti-DIsciplinary CONfiguration

NG-NRMM Next-Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model

NGRC Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability

NRMM NATO Reference Mobility Model

NSPA NATO Support and Procurement Agency

OCS Office of the Chief Scientist

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OPV Offshore Patrol Vessel

PoW Program of Work

QFD Quality Function Deployment

QFF NASA’s Quiet Flow Facility

R&D Research and Development

RDBO Reliability-Based Design Optimization

RDO Robust Design Optimization

REACHRegistration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals

RSM Research Specialists’ Meeting

RSY Research Symposium

RTG Research Task Group

RWS Research Workshop

S&T Science & Technology

SACCON Stability and Control Configuration

SBD Simulation-Based Design

ST Specialist Team

STB Science & Technology Board

STO Science & Technology Organization

TARDECUS Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center

ToE Team of Experts

TRL Technical Readiness Level

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UCAV Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle

UGV Unmanned Ground Vehicle

UQ Uncertainty Quantification

USAF US Air Force

V&V Verification and Validation

VA Volcanic Ash

WBV Whole Body Vibration

Acronyms



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