Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Directorate is soliciting white papers and potentially technical and cost proposals under this announcement to foster innovative research in the area of aircraft structural integrity. This initiative targets higher education program in engineering at colleges and universities located in the United States, and will encourage students and professors to perform fundamental research and development (R&D) directly related to the technical objectives of AFRL/RQV. The objective of the Structural Integrity Research Collaborations for Aircraft (SIRCA) program is to enable collaborative research partnerships between AFRL, Academia, and Industry, in areas relevant to aircraft to, structural integrity including, but not limited to, risk and reliability, metal fatigue and fracture, and composite damage modeling. These technical areas are necessary for developing critical war-fighting technologies for the nation’s air, space and cyberspace forces, as well as commercial derivatives.
By including all US institutions with graduate degree programs in relevant engineering fields, this program will strengthen the supply of specialized workforce talent, not only for the AF and DoD, but also Industry and Academia. This program intends to engage multiple collegiate institutions and to develop scientists and engineers in specific research areas of interest to AFRL/RQ that will provide the Air Force and Industry with a broad range of highly unique technology advances; and, for Academia, pertinent concepts and experience for the future workforce. Teaming arrangements with Industry and other Academic Institutions are highly encouraged.
White papers may be submitted at any time upon issuance of this FOA until 23 October 2023.
The Air Force anticipates multiple awards as a result of this solicitation, most likely as Cooperative Agreements. Awarded projects are anticipated to be 24 months in length, though different length projects may be proposed, with agreement values ranging from $50k-750k. The Air Force reserves the right to award larger or smaller dollar research agreements.