IR/EO SENSOR TRENDS AND REQUIREMENTS

THE AERONAAUTICAL SYSTEMS DEIVISON HAS THE RESPONSIBLITY TO ENSURE THAT NEW WEAPON SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION PLANNING ARE SOUNDLY BASED. ACQUISITION PLANNING REQUIREMENTS IN ADDITION TO MAJCOM NEEDS WHICH DRIVE MISSION AREA PLANS INCLUDE TWO OTHER MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION DRIVERS - BUDGET AND TECHNOLOGY AVAILABILITY. TO BUILD TECHNICAL CREDIBILITY AND REFLECT FISCAL REALITY, SYSTEMS ACQUISITION PLANNING MUST BE LINKED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE. EMBEDDED WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS IS THE NEED TO DEFINE MISSION REQUIREMENTS TO WHICH LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES CAN BE RESPONSIVE. TO ENSURE THE AVAILABILITY OF THE TECHNOLOGY BASE, AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ON-GOING TECHNOLOGIES IS APPROPRIATE. THIS EFFORT WILL PROVIDE THE AIR FORCE AND DOD WITH: (1) A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY AVAILABLE FROM INFRARED (IR) AND ELECTRO-OPTICAL (EO) SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FROM EXPLORATORY AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT APPLICABLE TO THE NEXT GENERATION AIR VEHICLE (YEAR 2010); (2) AN EXTENSION OF THAT ASSESSMENT OF EXPLORE IR/EO FAR TERM TECHNOLOGY AVAILABILITY (BEYOND YEAR 2010); AND (3) THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK TO EXPLOIT THE TECHNOLOGY IN AN ENGAGEMENT ANALYSIS TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE AND UTILITY OF INFRARED SENSORS IN FUTURE AIR WARFARE MISSIONS.