Is it possible to harness the energy from sunlight and heat to power military aircraft? Scientists from four universities will team up to investigate and answer that question with the help of a $6 million grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. University of Washington researchers will join colleagues from the University of Colorado, University of California at Los Angeles, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute to focus on these two non-fossil energy sources, along with vibration as a third, but less promising, source. AFOSR officials say the five-year effort will seek to advance USAF air vehicle systems, but also explore applications to spacecraft.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
