The Defense Department has announced the academic institutions that are winners of its Fiscal 2010 contract awards for basic, multidisciplinary research. The total value of these 32 funded projects is pegged at $227 million. Ten of these projects will support the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, with topics ranging from energy-dense liquids to social networks. Similarly, 10 fall under the Army Research Office, and 12 are for the Office of Naval Research. Pentagon officials reviewed a total of 152 proposals. (DOD release and projects list)
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.