Board Meeting

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board is scheduled to brief service Secretary Deborah Lee James on the preliminary findings of its three fiscal year 2014 studies on July 25, according to a defense official with knowledge of the process.

The three studies are: "Defense of USAF Forward Bases"; "Nuclear Command, Control and Communications"; and "Technology Readiness for Hypersonic Vehicles." The briefing follows AFSAB's June 24 summer general board meeting in Washington.

Following the secretary's briefing Friday, the board expects to publish unclassified abstracts of the three studies, which include early findings.

Pending completion and final approval, AFSAB will make a series of recommendations to the Air Force based on the three FY-14 studies -- scheduled for internal distribution in January 2015, according to the board's latest quarterly update.

The board has already begun considering studies for FY-15. Front-runners include MQ-9 survivability and deterring conflict in space, InsideDefense.com reported in June:

The board met in Washington June 24 to discuss study options for fiscal year 2015, which one source said might include MQ-9 survivability and deterring conflict in space, and to discuss the preliminary findings and recommendations of three fiscal year 2014 studies: nuclear command, control and communications (NC3), defense of forward-operating bases, and the technology readiness of hypersonic weapons.

"From what I've seen of where the hypersonics team is at, they're probably going to recommend some kind of next step with respect to hypersonic weapons," SAB Deputy Executive Director Lt. Col. Darren Edmonds said in a June 24 interview with Inside the Air Force, during which he discussed the status of the three studies.

In a statement to ITAF in May, Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said the service is pursuing two main hypersonic science and technology concepts through the Air Force Research Laboratory's High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) program. Those concepts include tactical-boost-glide and air-breathing hypersonic weapons.

"The current plan is to conduct demonstrations of the HSSW concepts in the 2018-2020 time frame," Gulick said.

Through its study, SAB is working to make a series of recommendations to the Air Force relating to advancing hypersonic weapon system concepts, and to establish a way forward for research and development efforts beyond the X-51 WaiveRider program, which ended in 2013 after some success.