The United States Air Force and the Culture of Innovation, 1945-1965
Author: Stephen B. Johnson
Publisher:
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 308
ISBN-13:
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Innovation in the United States Air Force
Author: Adam Grissom
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Published: 2016
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 0833091840
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAir Force senior leaders have asked whether the service is sufficiently innovative today and what can be done to make it more innovative for the future. This report assesses historical cases of Air Force innovation or apparent failure to innovate.
Technology Innovation and the Future of Air Force Intelligence Analysis
Author: LANCE. METHE
Publisher:
Published: 2021-01-27
Total Pages: 46
ISBN-13: 9781977406316
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThere is growing demand for the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS) to analyze sensor data. The authors assessed how new tools and technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), can help meet these demands. The authors assessed AF DCGS tools and processes, surveyed the state of the art in AI/ML methods, and examined best practices to encourage innovation and to incorporate new tools.
A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force
Author: Stephen Lee McFarland
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 96
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExcept in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.
The Innovator's Hypothesis
Author: Michael Schrage
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2014-09-12
Total Pages: 254
ISBN-13: 0262323052
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAchieving faster, better, cheaper, and more creative innovation outcomes with the 5x5 framework: 5 people, 5 days, 5 experiments, $5,000, and 5 weeks What is the best way for a company to innovate? Advice recommending “innovation vacations” and the luxury of failure may be wonderful for organizations with time to spend and money to waste. The Innovator’s Hypothesis addresses the innovation priorities of companies that live in the real world of limits. Michael Schrage advocates a cultural and strategic shift: small teams, collaboratively—and competitively—crafting business experiments that make top management sit up and take notice. He introduces the 5x5 framework: giving diverse teams of five people up to five days to come up with portfolios of five business experiments costing no more than $5,000 each and taking no longer than five weeks to run. Successful 5x5s, Schrage shows, make people more effective innovators, and more effective innovators mean more effective innovations.
Technology and the Air Force
Author: Jacob Neufeld
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Published: 2009-06
Total Pages: 344
ISBN-13: 1437912877
DOWNLOAD EBOOKProceedings of a symposium co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation and the Air Force History and Museums Program. The symposium covered relevant Air Force technologies ranging from the turbo-jet revolution of the 1930s to the stealth revolution of the 1990s. Illustrations.
Competition and Innovation in the U.S. Fixed-Wing Military Aircraft Industry
Author: John Birkler
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Published: 2003-11-07
Total Pages: 135
ISBN-13: 0833036017
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAssess prospects for innovation and competition in the military combat-aircraft industry. o
The Kill Chain
Author: Christian Brose
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2020-04-21
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 031653336X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom a former senior advisor to Senator John McCain comes an urgent wake-up call about how new technologies are threatening America's military might. For generations of Americans, our country has been the world's dominant military power. How the US military fights, and the systems and weapons that it fights with, have been uncontested. That old reality, however, is rapidly deteriorating. America's traditional sources of power are eroding amid the emergence of new technologies and the growing military threat posed by rivals such as China. America is at grave risk of losing a future war. As Christian Brose reveals in this urgent wake-up call, the future will be defined by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and other emerging technologies that are revolutionizing global industries and are now poised to overturn the model of American defense. This fascinating, if disturbing, book confronts the existential risks on the horizon, charting a way for America's military to adapt and succeed with new thinking as well as new technology. America must build a battle network of systems that enables people to rapidly understand threats, make decisions, and take military actions, the process known as "the kill chain." Examining threats from China, Russia, and elsewhere, The Kill Chain offers hope and, ultimately, insights on how America can apply advanced technologies to prevent war, deter aggression, and maintain peace.
Autonomous Horizons
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 2015
Total Pages: 27
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis report depicts a path to the future for system autonomy in the Air Force. It describes an evolutionary progression that obtains the best benefits of autonomous software working synergistically with the innovation of empowered airmen. This vision is both obtainable and sustainable, it leaves the authority and responsibility for warfare in the hands of airmen while creating tools that enhance their situation awareness and decision-making, speed effective actions, and bring needed extensions to their capabilities. Rather than attempting to design the airman out of the equation, the Air Force embraces the agility, intelligence and innovation that airmen provide, along with the advanced capabilities of autonomy, to create effective teams in which activities can be accomplished smoothly, simply and seamlessly. In this first volume, a summary of the challenges of automation and autonomy for airman interaction are presented, based on some four decades of experience and research on this issue. These include (1) difficulties in creating autonomy software that is robust enough to function without human intervention and oversight, (2) the lowering of human situation awareness that occurs when using automation leading to out-of the-loop performance decrements, (3) increases in cognitive workload required to interact with the greater complexity associated with automation, (4) increased time to make decisions when decision aids are provided, often without the desired increase in decision accuracy, and (5) challenges with developing a level of trust that is appropriately calibrated to the reliability and functionality of the system in various circumstances. Given that it is unlikely that autonomy in the foreseeable future will work perfectly for all functions and operations, and that airman interaction with autonomy will continue to be needed at some level, each of these factors works to create the need for a new approach to the design of autonomous systems that will allow them to serve as an effective teammate with the airmen who depend on them to do their jobs.
Strategies to Enhance Air Force Communication with Internal and External Audiences
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 2016-01-27
Total Pages: 51
ISBN-13: 0309389046
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe U.S. Air Force (USAF) helps defend the United States and its interests by organizing, training, and equipping forces for operations in and through three distinct domains-air, space, and cyberspace. The Air Force concisely expresses its vision as "Global Vigilance, Global Reach, and Global Power for America." Operations within each of these domains are dynamic, take place over large distances, occur over different operational timelines, and cannot be routinely seen or recorded, making it difficult for Airmen, national decision makers, and the American People to visualize and comprehend the full scope of Air Force operations. As a result, the Air Force faces increasing difficulty in succinctly and effectively communicating the complexity, dynamic range, and strategic importance of its mission to Airmen and to the American people. To address this concern, the Chief of Staff of the USAF requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convene a workshop to explore options on how the Air Force can effectively communicate the strategic importance of the Service, its mission, and the role it plays in the defense of the United States. Participants worked to address the issues that a diverse workforce encompassing a myriad of backgrounds, education, and increasingly diverse current mission sets drives the requirement for a new communication strategy. The demographics of today's Air Force creates both a unique opportunity and a distinct challenge to Air Force leadership as it struggles to communicate its vision and strategy effectively across several micro-cultures within the organization and to the general public. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
