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The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) manages the basic research investment for the US Air Force. AFOSR is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the primary scientific research and development center for the United States Air Force. AFOSR accomplishes its mission (supporting the US Air Force goal of control and maximum utilization of air, space, and cyberspace) by investing in basic research efforts for the Air Force in relevant scientific areas. AFOSR's strategy includes transferring research to industry, supplying Air Force acquisitions; to the academic community; and to the other directorates of AFRL that carry the responsibility for applied and development research leading to acquisition.
AFOSR distributes its basic research program investment through 1,200 grants at over 200 leading academic institutions worldwide, 100 industry-based contracts, and more than 250 internal AFRL research efforts. With a staff of 200 scientists, engineers, and administrators at their headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AFOSR also has foreign technology offices in London, England, Tokyo, Japan, and Santiago, Chile.
AFOSR manages the Air Force basic research program via three key partnerships:
- Universities
- Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program
- Air Force Intramural Research
AFOSR focuses on research areas that offer significant and comprehensive benefits to national warfighting and peacekeeping capabilities. Research areas are organized and managed in two scientific branches, each with two teams.
- Dynamic materials and interactions
- GHz-THz electronics and materials
- Energy, combustion, and non-equilibrium thermodynamics
- Unsteady aerodynamics and turbulent flows
- High-speed aerodynamics
- Low-density materials
- Multiscale structural mechanics and prognosis
- Space propulsion and power
- Agile science of test and evaluation (T&E)
- Computational cognition and machine intelligence
- Computational mathematics
- Dynamics and control
- Dynamic data and information processing
- Information assurance and cybersecurity
- Optimization and discrete mathematics
- Science of information, computation, learning, and fusion
- Trust and influence
- Complex networks
- Cognitive and computational neurosciences
- Materials with extreme properties
- Atomic and molecular physics
- Electromagnetics
- Laser and optical physics
- Optoelectronics and photonics
- Plasma and electro-energetic physics
- Quantum information sciences
- Remote sensing
- Space science
- Ultrashort pulse laser-matter interactions
- Biophysics
- Human performance and biosystems
- Mechanics of multifunctional materials and microsystems
- Molecular dynamics and theoretical chemistry
- Natural materials, systems, and extremophiles
- Organic materials chemistry
The United States Air Force basic research program was born out of the need to address a long-standing shortfall in military basic research. This deficiency became apparent during World War Two when civilian-led research and development efforts were required to create weaponry and support requirements.
In February 1948, an Air Force office responsible for research was established in the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, becoming the Office of Air Research (OAR). In January 1950 the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC), devoted entirely to problems of research and development, was established. In October 1951, with the intercession of Dr. Louis Ridenour, the Air Force's first Chief Scientist, the Office of Scientific Research (OSR) was created as a small staff office in ARDC headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.
In January 1975, AFOSR was designated as the single manager for basic research within the Air Force.
AFOSR became part of the AFRL when it was created in October 1997 through the consolidation of four former Air Force laboratories and AFOSR.
