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Air Force chief scientist lauds AMC as leader in energy initiatives

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The Air Force's chief scientist, Dr. Mark T. Maybury, visited Air Mobility Command here June 27 to 29 and lauded Air Mobility Command's initiatives as he discussed the importance of energy efficiency.

Doctor Maybury's visit included serving as the keynote speaker for the AMC "Future Aircraft Fuel Efficiency Industry Days" conference. During his presentation, he touched upon the Air Force's science and technology strategy for energy efficiency.

"This is essential not just for the Air Force and DOD, but also for our national security," Doctor Maybury said. "It's a matter of operations success."

Doctor Maybury is conducting a multi-front study on "Energy Horizons" to identify more energy efficient technologies in air, space, cyberspace and infrastructure areas.

The study is sponsored by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Secretary of the Air Force. AMC's chief scientist, Dr. Donald Erbschloe, is co-leading the "air" section of the team and is ensuring the command's ideas are brought to the table.

During the conference, Doctor Maybury also discussed AMC Fuel Efficiency Office's initiatives that are making an impact -- to include Mission Index Flying, or MIF. MIF allows mobility Airmen to optimize flight planning and execution without requiring an advanced onboard flight management computer system. The tool helps minimizes overall operating costs by providing optimized flight parameters for the aircrew to fly to minimize fuel burn for the flight.

"AMC has been a leader in this," Doctor Maybury said.

He also highlighted the Next Generation Cargo Capability initiative where the goal is to move more cargo with the same amount of airlift. "This is where it's about getting one more pallet on board," Doctor Maybury said.

For the Air Force, Doctor Maybury noted the Energy Horizons Team focus of an "assured energy advantage across air, space, cyberspace and infrastructure" is achieved through building partnerships. He said that building partnerships with other government agencies, other services, national laboratories and academia are paying dividends and will continue.

"This (Future Aircraft Fuel Efficiency Industry Days) conference builds on that effort," he said.

In his work as chief scientist, Doctor Maybury provides assessments on a wide range of scientific and technical issues affecting the Air Force mission. In this role he identifies and analyzes technical issues and brings them to attention of Air Force leaders. He also interacts with other Air Staff principals, operational commanders, combatant commands, acquisition, and science and technology communities to address cross-organizational technical issues and solutions.

Doctor Maybury also interacts with other services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense on issues affecting the Air Force in-house technical enterprise. He serves on the Steering Committee and Senior Review Group of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, or SAB. He is also the Air Force principal science and technology representative to the civilian scientific and engineering community and to the public at large.

Through his work, Doctor Maybury said, success in energy efficiency will be achieved through not only building partnerships, but also through building a culture of change. "That culture change (in energy efficiency), requires leadership, education and incentives," Doctor Maybury said.

He also mentioned some of the Air Force's other efforts for using more energy efficient technology.

"Today the Air Force coordinates an effort across the DOD to dramatically increase the use of electric vehicles," he stated as one of the examples.

Additionally, Doctor Maybury said the Air Force is looking at "revolutionary" enabling technologies such as ultra-efficient photo voltaics, biofuels, ultra-capacitors, advanced batteries, nano-materials and energy efficient "cloud" computing.

"Some of this we might not see in the next two to three years, but maybe in the next five, 10 or 15 years," Doctor Maybury said.

Overall, he highlighted "energy is an operations enabler," and the Air Force science and technology community will continue to work to better the service's energy efficiency efforts.

"Our assured energy advantage will require us to conserve resources and protect the environment. It will demand a focused energy roadmap and a targeted approach to be successful."