AFWERX is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

program with the goal of fostering a culture of innovation within the service. Encompassing a number of programs supported with relatively small amounts of funding, the initiative is intended to circumvent bureaucracy and engage new entrepreneurs in Air Force programs. AFWERX was officially announced by Air Force Secretary

Heather Wilson Heather Ann Wilson (born December 30, 1960) is the 11th President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019. Wilson was the 12th president of the So ...

on 21 July 2017 during her visit to

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military ...

. The program is partially based on the structure of Air Force Special Operations Command, and has been described as an " Island of misfit toys" for entrepreneurs in the Air Force. Secretary Wilson stated that the program would "increase lethality at a lower cost".

Purpose

AFWERX is intended to engage inter and extra service innovators and entrepreneurs in the operations of the United States Air Force. The goal of the programs under the AFWERX umbrella is to develop effective solutions to the challenges facing the service through partnerships with private sector business entities, with particular emphasis being placed on collaboration with technology startups.

Technology accelerator

Through AFWERX, the Air Force launched a technology accelerator program in September 2017. The technology accelerator program emphasizes the development and implementation of autonomous technologies. The goal of these developments is to increase the ability of the Air Force assets to detect, identify, attribute, and mitigate autonomous technologies. Boston based company PBTS LLC and entrepreneur networking service Techstars were contracted to operate the first accelerator program in conjunction with AFWERX.

Locations

The first functioning AFWERX location was announced to be opening at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

in 2018, where, according to the Air Force, groups will be able to present ideas for evaluation by the service branch. The Vegas location opened in early June 2018. AFWERX opened a new facility in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

also in June 2018, and later opened a third location in Washington D.C.

Initiatives

HSVTOL Challenge

This challenge is to develop innovative designs for high-speed

vertical take-off and landing A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-win ...

aircraft. It launched in June 2021. The intent is to leapfrog the capabilities of the current VTOL aircraft, helicopters like the

Sikorsky HH-60 Pave hawk The Sikorsky MH-60G/HH-60G Pave Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It is a derivative of the UH-60 Black Hawk and incorporates the US Air Force PAVE electronic systems ...

and the

Bell Boeing V22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...

, which have maximum speeds less than 400 mph. Desired items include jet-like speed, in-flight transition between hover and cruise, increased range and endurance, in-flight refueling capability, and flexible payload. Designs that fit on a standard pallet, or offer smart collision and threat avoidance systems received extra credit. 35 submissions moved to the second stage of 218 original submissions.

Agility Prime

Agility Prime is a program designed to partner with the commercial aviation industry and bring air taxis, or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to urban settings. The aerospace market is estimated to be $1.5T by 2040. The Agility Prime program will drive innovative new approaches for transiting technology to the field: contracts, airworthiness, and testing. It has received over $1B in commercial investment as of December 2021.

References

Projects of the United States Air Force {{USAF-stub