Top service scientist pays visit

  • Published
  • By Janaé Daniels
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Since becoming the Chief Scientist of the Air Force in October, Dr. Werner Dahm has been visiting Air Force bases throughout Air Force Materiel Command and elsewhere to get a better understanding of how operations - including ground tests - are being conducted.

Last week Dr. Dahm made his first visit to Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) since working here from 1979 to 1981 as a graduate student and contractor engineer and he said he is impressed at how the capabilities of the center have progressed in the past 27 years.

Most of his work at AEDC dealt with high-incidence missile aerodynamics, especially
the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, where AEDC was providing analytical support to wind tunnel tests and computational simulations. He also worked with adaptive wall wind tunnel development, where AEDC was developing instrumentation
techniques for aircraft control surface measurements. 

He supervised a series of tests of this instrumentation in the 1-foot supersonic tunnel and was involved in tests in 4-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel as well.

"Having worked here before, I had a lot of insight into the ground testing that goes on at AEDC," he explained. "But it has been essential to see what the changes have been since then. There are many new facilities that have been carefully chosen to fill critical gaps in the national ground test infrastructure."

Dr. Dahm said his work at AEDC benefits him in his new position in which his main role is to provide assessments to the Air Force leadership on a wide range of scientific and technical issues. 

"The chief scientist works with the senior levels of the Air Force to ensure that key decisions are made on the basis of scientifically and technologically correct facts," he explained. "Part of that is articulating the important role of ground test facilities like those at AEDC." 

In order to provide independent and informed reports back to Air Force leadership, Dr. Dahm feels it is important to come to a place like AEDC and to see and talk to the people who actually operate the center. 

"We have an Air Force leadership that I think has a strong appreciation for the importance of the research, development, test and evaluation enterprise in trying to improve the acquisition process," he explained. "They understand I believe, that the acquisition environment is going to be very tough, and that it is important
to make that overall process as effective as possible." 

One of the first things Dr. Dahm noticed about Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley is that they recognize the importance of science and engineering components of the Air Force enterprise. 

"They are reaching into the science and technology support infrastructure that they have," he said. "Beginning with the Chief Scientist office and all the rest of it, to be able to have the best guidance they can get." 

Dr. Dahm explained how the Air Force is moving strongly toward an emphasis on jointness among all the service branches and DoD agencies. 

"Everyone understands that we cannot afford to have siloed services any longer," he stated. "That's certainly all the more true in the kind of counter-insurgency operations we fight now. Achieving that jointness effectively is going to be crucial. The consistent
message from the top of the Defense Department is that our success is not driven by any one individual service. From here on, the emphasis on jointness is not going to disappear. It will be the way of the future." 

As he toured some of the facilities he had only heard about, but not yet seen, Dr. Dahm was particularly interested in the fact that AEDC is at the forefront for two hypersonic tests - the High-Speed Turbine Engine Demonstrator (HiSTED) and the Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Test (Facet) programs. 

"These are two high visibility programs," the Chief Scientist said. "I think we are finally at the point where the Air Force is going to be able to draw real operational capability from the sustained investment it has made in hypersonics." 

Dr. Dahm also had the chance to meet with young Airmen, DoD civilian and contractor engineers during his visit. He emphasized the importance of a place like AEDC and how it can jump start a career in aerospace engineering. 

"AEDC is one of the best places that a young aerospace engineer can work," he said. "The experience I gained at AEDC has always stayed with me, and gave me a perspective that few in the academic research community have." 

He was also impressed by the base's leadership efforts to put in place programs for young uniformed men and women to gain direct technical experience development. 

"In any science and technology organization, the role of program management is obviously important," he said. "But, especially for the young people, in order for them to advance their technical skills so that they can be technically astute program managers, they have to have opportunities to further develop their technical expertise. Achieving that is going to be very important for ensuring that AEDC continues to fulfill its crucial role in the overall Air Force research, development, test and evaluation enterprise."