Most people .in this country, though not all by any means, accept without question the fact that science has improved the life, comfort, and standard of living of the average individual. Science has also given this nation a powerful defensive posture with nuclear and non-nuclear weapons of great power and destructiveness. Although scientific efforts in this country have laid the foundation for the emergence of the United States as a foremost economic and military power and spin-offs from science and technology have done much to improve the health and welfare of our citizens, nevertheless, some spin-offs have degraded our environment and expensive programs have had to be started to restore and preserve the balance of our ecology. The harsher critics have preached that science is bad, that we should stop our efforts to enlarge the technology base, and that we should declare a moratorium on research efforts.
Unfortunately, we in the United States have no monopoly on science, technology or inventiveness. While we argue among ourselves about the virtues and sins of science, other nations are working hard to reduce and eliminate our thin lead. Other nations are using advanced technology to challenge and surpass us in the world trade markets. Other nations are taking advantage of developments arising from scientific discoveries to produce more effective weapons, ships, aircraft, and equipment for offensive and defensive purposes.
In the Navy, the mission of providing the scientific and technological base for the Navy of the future falls to the Office of Naval Research. Since 1946, when it stepped into the void created by the phasing out of the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development, ONR has pursued a broad program of research relevant to Navy operational needs. The broad technological base that has been generated not only produces dramatic improvements in Fleet vehicles, weapons, and equipment, but broadly serves to strengthen our national defense and our civilian economy. The program is carried out by scientists in colleges, universities, non-profits, industry, and in-house laboratories.
The discoveries made by these scientists give the Navy the new technology needed to improve its operations in a variety of ways—better communications systems, more efficient power plants, improved detection techniques, more powerful weapons, and more effective ways to repair injured bodies.
By its nature, such research is a long and involved process. Experience has shown that it is virtually impossible to predict the timing or nature of new ideas and discoveries that may emerge from research efforts. Our past attempts to even predict long term trends in various fields of technology have been woefully inadequate and generally wrong. Because of this dilemma, a rather straight forward philosophy of operation has emerged in ONR over the years. ONR supports the best scientists it can find in the country who are willing to do research in areas of science that are relevant to Navy missions, operations, and functions. The general caliber of these scientific investigators is indicated by the fact that during the past 20 years, 18 Nobel Prize winners have been supported on contract by the Office of Naval Research.
ONR supports research largely on the basis of unsolicited proposals. This means that on his own initiative the scientist submits a proposal for a research task he wishes to pursue without necessarily being aware of the Navy’s interest in his subject. The determination of how the Navy could expect to benefit from the results of the proposed research task is made by ONR personnel. The scientist who is awarded a contract retains the freedom to perform the research in any way he chooses.
In 1946, such practices were considered unorthodox, if not revolutionary. However, the philosophy of the ONR contract research system has since been adopted by many other government agencies which were later established, such as the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the research organizations of the Army and Air Force.
In the beginning, most of the funding available to ONR went to support research by scientists in colleges and universities. Since that time, however, the Navy’s in-house laboratory system has grown in breadth and competence to the point where about 40% of the research funds now goes to support Navy laboratory scientists. We still believe that university research is important and must be utilized if the Navy is to continue to maintain a solid technology base and a bank of new knowledge. We have seen how this new knowledge gradually accumulated has paid off years later with major advances in naval systems.
Mission Oriented Research. The question is sometimes asked as to why the Services should support university research when other federal agencies, particularly the National Science Foundation, have funds for this purpose. There has even been occasional mention of a centralized federal research agency. It is our strong belief that no single agency could be sufficiently knowledgeable to plan and manage a research program that would satisfy the needs of every department of the federal government. Mission-oriented research agencies, such as the Office of Naval Research, are needed to ensure that research will be performed which supports that agency’s particular mission or function. For several years after World War II, for example, virtually the only federal support of research in oceanography was provided by ONR. Even today, with heavy support to oceanographic research by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, there are studies in long-range underwater sound propagation and environmental acoustics which are of interest only to the Navy. If the Navy did not support this work, which is vital to the accomplishment of its mission, it would never be done.
The issue of who should fund research in the federal government has recently been linked with an outcry from a certain few elements of the university community which want to reject all military sponsored research. Their argument is that such funds are tainted because of the eventual application of the results to warfare and that there are many unfunded socially useful studies which should be performed. Some even go so far as to propose that the military (or the government) give their school a block of funds which they can use for research or support as they see fit and without interference of the sponsoring agency.
One of the best counter arguments to this reasoning appeared recently and unexpectedly in the campus newspaper of the University of California at Santa Barbara. A faculty member, Dr. James Case, decided to set the record straight as to why it is important and desirable for universities to perform military research. Dr. Case is an ONR contractor in research, and in his article he describes his relationship with ONR. He stated in part:
“Regarding my own ONR-supported research, I can state that I have never been asked to undertake work of any specified type, military or otherwise, by ONR. That is not the way it works. What really happens is that I think about research that I want to do in my area of interest. Any aspect of this that involves the ocean, I make up into an annual proposal which I submit to ONR. The agency takes it or leaves it, relying in part on the advice of a panel of scientists. Then, when the work is done, my students and I publish it in any journal we can, without screening or prior clearance from ONR. There is, in short, no significant difference evident to me between how my ONR contract operates and, for example, how my National Science Foundation grant works.”
Dr. Case then goes on to explain how the funds he receives from ONR are used. He notes that a portion goes to the university to cover overhead, which is used for general support of campus-wide research. A large part of the money is disbursed to students as salaries for work as research assistants, “thus providing them both income and training in science.” The funds are also used to purchase “equipment that otherwise might be unavailable to the campus.” This equipment, he reports, may be used by undergraduates as well as for training of graduate students.
Dr. Case argues that it would be most unfortunate if military agencies stopped financing pure research. He foresees how military services limited to “working in secret only on the hardware of war” could end up with research that may be “bad and wasteful simply because of the input from pure science that will be lacking.” At the same time, he states, it would be “very bad business for a university community to categorically cut itself off from research funds simply because they came from one agency or another.” He feels it is better to ask whether or not the money is appropriate to the academic situation.
Relevance. An issue that has affected the management of naval research, particularly in connection with the support of basic research, is the matter of relevance. Lately, Congress has become increasingly concerned with ensuring that funds appropriated to a mission-oriented research agency will indeed produce results directly related to its mission. The Military Procurement Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1970 included a Section 203, the so-called Mansfield Amendment, which required that all military research have a “direct and apparent relationship to a specific military function or operation.”
The Office of Naval Research has always used naval relevancy as one of the major criteria in selecting research proposals for contract awards. Suppose that a university scientist would like to do research in a particular area of polymer chemistry that interests him. It is the responsibility of the ONR program officer to recognize that this proposed study, perhaps combined with other research in his program, could result in a new type of high heat resistant material that is urgently needed to solve a continuing naval development problem. The investigator in his own mind considers his study to be basic research (which it is) and is not concerned with its application, while the ONR manager clearly sees the potential application, assuming that the investigator achieves his goal.
Although relevance is important, it is not the only consideration in selecting research. Great emphasis is placed on the scientific significance of the proposed research. Another factor is the prospective investigator’s experimental or theoretical approach. ONR personnel will want to know, for example, how his approach may differ from past investigations in the same field and why this particular effort is expected to give new or more valid answers than previous attempts.
The background, skill, and imagination of the senior investigator are other major considerations in proposal evaluation. Not only is his current reputation important but also his recent productivity and contributions to the area of the proposal. Cost is also carefully considered, including such items as salaries, indirect costs, and equipment purchases. Although a time estimate for completion of the project is desirable, ONR recognizes that in long-range research, particularly in unexplored areas of science, such estimates are often meaningless. Contracts may be renewed periodically depending on continued productivity, new ideas and new approaches to the problem.
Contracts and Grants. In the support of research, the words contract and grant are sometimes used interchangeably when they are actually quite different. ONR has always firmly believed in the research contract as opposed to the grant. As used by other federal agencies, the grant might be described as a gift in exchange for a promise to do work in a particular area of technology. The grant usually requires little technical or scientific contact between the grantor and grantee once the grant is executed. On the other hand, the ONR research contract requires a continuous technical dialogue between the investigator and the ONR program director. The value of this communication cannot be overemphasized. Through frequent contact the investigator and the program director share information, learn to appreciate each other’s problems and viewpoints, and in many cases develop a deep respect for each other. Usually, the ONR program director arranges for the investigator to participate in ONR-sponsored conferences and seminars. As a result of these interactions, a high degree of trust and confidence develops between the scientist and the ONR manager.
Transitioning Research to Development. A major ONR objective is to ensure that significant research results produced through the research program are made known to those involved in naval development programs so that new discoveries can be translated into benefits to the operating Navy. One of the many ways of accomplishing this goal is through the ONR Naval Applications and Analysis Group. This division is charged with the support of applied research, exploratory development and analytical effort in those areas of technology which are important to the Fleet. The primary function of the Group is twofold: to bring the results of the ONR research program to the attention of the Navy’s development organizations, principally the various Systems Commands under the Chief of Naval Material, and to bring the development problems of these commands to the attention of ONR scientific personnel.
This interrelationship is further assured by an interlocking fiscal and budgetary mechanism. Funds for the support of the programs of the Naval Applications and Analysis Group do not come from the Navy research budget, which is under the purview of the Chief of Naval Research, but largely from the Navy exploratory development budget, which is administered by the Chief of Naval Development, who is also the Deputy Chief of Naval Material (Development). Funds are also received from the advanced development category, which is concerned with the design and fabrication of prototype vehicles, weapons or equipments to test feasibility.
This relationship, however, is not the only tie-in with the development organizations of the Navy. The ONR science divisions receive funding contributions from the Systems Commands to support particular research efforts that may have an immediate or specific naval application. If it is apparent that the research has broad military application, joint funding might also include money from the Army, the Air Force or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Another mechanism for bringing new ideas and discoveries generated in the ONR research program to the attention of the developmental components of the Navy is through the various seminars, conferences, and meetings sponsored by ONR throughout the year. At these meetings, scientists and engineers from Navy laboratories and Systems Commands join with investigators from institutions under ONR contract to exchange technical information and ideas. Prominent scientists and researchers from all over the world are often invited to participate in these conferences although they may not be under contract to ONR. This technique has proved effective in accelerating the progress and exchange of information in such expanding fields of research as low temperature physics, superconductivity, and infrared, maser, and laser technology.
A major element in the management and coordination of the Navy’s research program is the unique ONR Branch Office organization. Branch Offices in Boston, Chicago, and Pasadena, supported by area offices in San Francisco and New York and more than 30 resident representatives at leading universities, provide direct liaison between ONR and its research contractors. Scientific personnel in these offices also maintain liaison with research personnel in other government agencies, educational institutions, companies, and laboratories, identifying scientific and technological advances that have possible significance to the Navy.
A special and critically important function is performed by the ONR Branch Office in London. This office surveys and reports on scientific trends, potentialities, and achievements in research and development overseas. A staff of highly qualified U. S. scientists and naval officers visit academic, industrial, and government research and development organizations in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East.
The Naval Research Laboratory, which has earned an unparalleled reputation in the physical sciences, is an essential part of the ONR organization. ONR has two contractor-operated laboratories: the Naval Biomedical Research Laboratory in Oakland, California, and the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, Barrow, Alaska. The Arctic Research Laboratory also operates and supports the floating Arctic research ice station known as T-3.
Frequently, the Office of Naval Research has been tasked to explain not only to the public and Congress but even to people in the Navy and the Department of Defense how research contributes to new naval developments and supports the Fleet. The basic reason for this continuing requirement lies in the long and involved process, often difficult to trace, from basic research through development to final deployment of new hardware in the Fleet. A few examples will serve to illustrate how many years of research in various fields are required for the development of major new naval systems that constitute significant advances over existing equipment.
Long-Range Navigation. During World War II the Loran system was developed as the first long-range radio aid to navigation. The main deficiency of Loran, however, was its limited range of about a hundred miles, requiring the use of a large number of transmitting stations. At the end of the war, the members of the Loran team reformed as a group at Harvard to continue the study of radio wave propagation. The group, one of the first sponsored by an ONR research contract, hoped to develop a lower frequency navigation system that would extend the range of Loran. Their investigations led them to abandon the time-difference concept of Loran in favor of a phase-difference technique that took advantage of the phase stability of very low frequency signals. With continued support by ONR, as well as the Army and the Air Force, the Harvard group managed to solve most of the problems with the new concept by the early 1960s. The new navigation system, called Omega, was found to be accurate at ranges over 8,000 miles from the transmitter, requiring only a few stations for world-wide coverage.
Three Omega stations are now in interim operation in North Dakota, Trinidad, and Norway. Position accuracies of one to two miles are provided and a complete network of eight stations is expected to be operational in 1975. The stations will be spaced around the world so that three to five stations will always be in range. The Omega system will provide reliable worldwide navigation for civilian and military aircraft and surface ships. Because of its very low frequency, the system can also be used by submarines.
Superconductivity. ONR was also an early pioneer in exploring the phenomena called superconductivity. In 1911, a Dutch scientist named Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that when certain materials are cooled in liquid helium to a temperature of about four degrees Kelvin, all electrical resistance vanishes. The nature of the phenomenon is such that an electric current can continue to flow for an indefinite period in a wire in this superconducting state. For example, superconducting rings of tin have been made to carry circulating d.c. currents of more than an ampere for periods of up to a year, disconnected from any battery, without any measurable decrease in current.
It was first thought that the zero resistance property could be used to build magnets with very high magnetic fields and zero power loss. However, it was soon discovered that the presence of even a medium-strength magnetic field would destroy the superconductivity in the materials known to Onnes and others in the early 1900s.
In the 1940s, the properties of superconductors were widely regarded as interesting but impractical laboratory curiosities. Nevertheless, during the first years of its existence, ONR sponsored two conferences with its low temperature physics contractors to review the status of superconductivity. By 1950, the ONR program became the focus of superconducting and low temperature physics in this country.
A major breakthrough occurred in 1961 when a group of scientists under J. Kunzler at Bell Telephone Laboratories found that a niobium tin compound remained superconducting in field strengths greater than 90 kilogauss and could also sustain high current densities. The discovery of this new class of superconducting materials (called Type II superconductors) has opened an exciting new field of possible applications. Superconductors are now available which can produce magnetic fields of over 200 kilogauss without change of properties.
ONR interest in this area is driven by the wide range of potential naval uses of superconducting technology. One exciting potential application lies in electric propulsion systems for ships and submarines. It is estimated that the size and weight of electric motors and generators could be reduced to about one-quarter of the present values (for the same power output) by using superconductivity. This estimate includes the helium cryogenic refrigerators which would be part of the system. The substantial reduction in the size of the superconducting power plant plus the inherent flexibility of an electric drive could produce a completely new family of propulsion systems for ships, submarines, hydrofoils, and surface effect ships. This new technology could also result in civilian land-based electric power generation systems of substantially reduced size and cost. At the other end of the scale, tiny superconducting magnetometers are now available which have several orders of magnitude greater sensitivity than the magnetic detection gear now used by the Navy. It should be recognized, however, that it may be several years before we have a practical full-scale superconducting system for ships and submarines.
The two examples just cited show how basic investigations in a particular field of science can finally culminate in a new development and better equipment for the Navy. There are times, however, when the normally slow process of technical evolution needs to be, and can be, accelerated somewhat. Occasionally, a new scientific technique or discovery has such an obvious potential for naval application that special measures must be taken to push it forward.
Infrared Radiation. Consider, for example, the role played by ONR in supporting a major program of infrared research which has ultimately led to the operational use of sophisticated infrared devices by the Navy and the other military services. The practical application of infrared (IR) goes back to World War I. In World War II it was widely used in nighttime detection devices, and at the end of the war it appeared that this area of technology was ripe for further study and exploitation. All objects radiate enough heat to be detected in the infrared, and this means of detection has three distinct advantages over radar. IR detection is passive and does not reveal the presence of the searcher. It is virtually jam-proof and the high frequency of IR emissions permits far greater target resolution than radar.
Yet in the late 1940s the future of IR was confused and uncertain. One inhibiting element was the fact that much of the work in the IR field was classified, and circulation of technical reports was severely limited. Other handicaps were the general lack of communication between the services and the desire of commercial concerns to maintain a proprietary blanket over their technical progress in the IR field. In addition, it was apparent that the full potential of IR devices must await the solution of basic problems in infrared physics, optics, and signal processing.
To overcome this inertia, ONR began to hold a series of symposia in 1949 devoted to the military application of IR radiation and to improvement in the flow of technical information among contractors. The Army and Air Force joined in these classified symposia, which have steadily expanded in attendance and are still being held. The effect of these conferences was to unify the efforts in the IR field, and publication was initiated on a single classified national journal of military infrared physics and technology. In addition, an information center and library of infrared documents was established in 1955 at the University of Michigan.
Ironically, the early IR symposia created strong doubts in the minds of many Navy officials and those of the other services as to whether IR techniques could be militarily useful. In an attempt to resolve this question, ONR awarded a contract to Brown University in 1951 to set up a summer study known as Project Metcalf. The goal of Metcalf was not only to delve into fundamental problems in physics but also to examine practical engineering problems and possible operational applications of infrared. Chairman of the group was Dr. Donald Hornig, later Science Advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson, and two of the 15 members were later Nobel Laureates.
The conclusion of the Metcalf group was that infrared could make “important contributions to the military art” and that “a vigorous basic research program is worthwhile.” At the same time, the group pointed out that IR cannot be transmitted over long distances because of its degradation in fog, haze, rain, and smoke, and therefore development work should be highly selective and “all projects should be weighed carefully from an operational viewpoint.”
The Metcalf study had an immediate impact on the Sidewinder program. This advanced IR-guided air-to-air missile then under development at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, was struggling for existence with limited funds. Members of the Metcalf committee learned about the project, took the matter up with high Navy officials and convinced them to provide sufficient funds to assure the successful completion of the program. Sidewinder has turned out to be one of the most reliable and efficient missiles ever developed and led the way to development of other IR guided weapons. In addition, a foundation was laid for an orderly program in infrared research and development which has provided the impetus for significant advances in the broad area of military optics.
Lasers. More recently, ONR took a leading role in the development of laser technology both for military applications and for civilian use in industry and in the medical field.
The basic physical principle of the maser and the laser was conceived by Dr. Charles H. Townes in 1951 while working in the general field of microwave spectroscopy. His work at the Columbia University Radiation Laboratory was funded jointly by ONR, the Army, and the Air Force. He later received the Nobel Prize for his discoveries. The first maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) was designed and built at Columbia by Dr. Townes in 1954. The maser is essentially an ultrasensitive low-noise amplifier for weak electromagnetic signals. ONR developed the first practical application of the maser by using it in the Naval Research Laboratory’s 50-foot radio-telescope to detect very weak radio signals from the planets and stars. Other applications developed by ONR were the design and construction of the Atomichron and the hydrogen maser to provide ultra-precise standards of frequency, particularly for use in navigation.
In 1958, Dr. Townes along with Dr. Arthur Schawlow of the Bell Telephone Laboratories first enunciated the operating principle of the laser, with the first working laser actually built less than three years later. By 1961, ONR had a strong interest in the potential of the laser, which amplifies weak light waves to produce a narrow, powerful beam of coherent light. An ONR staff scientist describing the new device that year in the ONR monthly scientific publication, Naval Research Reviews, noted that in the field of communications, “such a beam could, in principle, carry some 100 million simultaneous telephone calls.” He also pointed out that “this powerful light source promises to enable surgeons to perform ‘knifeless’ surgery and cartographers to make a very accurate map of the moon.”
In 1961, a high-level Department of Defense group made an analysis of the state of the laser as it then existed and recommended that a major effort be launched to build high-power, high-energy laser devices. ONR was selected as the agency for achieving this goal because of its experience in managing this type of technical effort and because of its close relationship to the invention and development of both the maser and the laser.
In addition to supporting a continuing broad basic research program of its own in areas of physics related to the laser, ONR managed the ARPA-funded Laser Program which pursued all phases of high-energy, high-power laser development in a strong effort to advance the technology. During the first four years ONR awarded and managed approximately 100 research contracts covering both experimental and theoretical work in the field of lasers. The Naval Research Laboratory was brought into the project and funds were allocated to the Laboratory to develop new types of laser glass, to investigate new methods of growing crystals and to study laser optics and propagation.
When the ONR Laser Program got underway in 1962, the ruby laser was the most successful type. Since then many other kinds of lasers have been developed. Work is continuing on not only solid state glass and crystal lasers, but gas dynamic lasers, tunable dye lasers, chemical lasers, electrically excited lasers, semiconductor lasers and others. Laser technology is still in its infancy. The years ahead will see tremendous strides in this field with many different types of military and civilian applications undreamed of at this time.
Electro-Optics. A new field of technology known as electro-optics promises remarkable improvements in naval equipment designed for signal and data transmission. Electro-optics involves the combination of systems that use electrical energy with systems or components that use light instead of electronics to carry signals. The goal of the present ONR effort in this field is the development of integrated optical circuits that would be much more compact and reliable and less costly than electronic circuits. In electro-optics, a laser can be used as the light source and glass optical fibers serve as transmission lines.
Optical integrated circuits will be used principally in the areas of communication, data transmission, displays, and computers. In communications an optical system offers such advantages as extremely large bandwidth and therefore high data rate, smaller and lighter equipment, and transmitter, receiver, and transmission lines all free from the problem of electromagnetic interference or compromise by detection. This last feature would make it extremely difficult to jam or monitor an optical system. Electro-optics could offer, for example, a man-to-man secure short-range communication system.
Using electro-optic techniques, color displays would be possible using laser sources of different wave lengths. Conventional displays used today are bulky, heavy, and environment sensitive. A computer designed to employ optical techniques would have greatly increased memory banks compared to conventional computers. Electro-optics could also lead to a less complicated computer system for optical scanning of printed pages and pictures. Fiber optics could also be used for data transmission in tethered weapon systems, such as a wire-guided torpedo. These systems now use a cable to accommodate the many separate information channels. With an optical data transmission system, the size and weight of the cable could be substantially reduced.
In Fiscal Year 1973, ONR had more than 20 contracts in support of the ONR Electro-Optics Program. Work supported includes optical waveguide fabrication and studies of transmission properties; modulation and deflection techniques; development of couplers, sources and detectors; fabrication of integrated circuits; and preliminary design and test of prototype communication and information processing devices.
New Materials. In other long-range research programs, ONR has deliberately funded work in completely unknown areas in an effort to find new and better materials for naval applications. This approach has led to the discovery of a whole new field in materials—the carboranes—and the creation of new polymeric substances including plastics and rubbers that are stable at several hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The results of ONR research in the carborane field are now being used by the Navy Systems Commands in developing new polymeric materials with improved properties. The new high-heat-resistant rubbers, for example, are expected to provide better seals for supersonic aircraft.
A carborane is a boron hydride compound in which one boron atom is replaced by a carbon atom. The latest ONR[-]sponsored research in carboranes has concentrated on the bonding of boron to metal atoms. This effort has recently led to the discovery of a new family of polymers called polymetal phosphinates, materials with superior ability to withstand severe environments, including high temperatures.
The new compounds have unusual versatility. They can be fabricated into composite structures, used as high temperature protective coatings for metals, or added to fluids operating under very high pressure to prevent breakdown under these extreme conditions. The new polymer compounds used in composite structures have demonstrated a superior capacity to absorb energy in ablative tests and a high insulating efficiency compared with conventional materials.
Controlled Fusion. Although the Atomic Energy Commission is the major sponsor of research in this country on controlled fusion power systems, ONR has a modest collaborative program of scientific experiments in this field because of its relation to weapon effects and its potential importance as a future energy source for various naval applications.
A major key to achieving a successful and practical fusion process is the mechanism for heating the plasma or deuterium gas to the point of attaining the appropriate density and temperature for fusion. One study supported by ONR at the University of Maryland uses a large volume “Theta pinch” device which couples electrical energy to the plasma through an axially generated magnetic field. Called non-equilibrium fusion, the process could produce the reaction with considerably less input energy than conventional equilibrium fusion techniques would require.
Another unique approach underway at the Naval Research Laboratory is focused on high density plasma devices. This is in contrast to most other major research efforts which are based on low density quiescent plasmas that must be confined for relatively long periods in order to achieve fusion. High density plasmas, on the other hand, need only to be contained for a few microseconds, which is sufficient for small, compact power sources with varying loads as might be required for Navy applications.
The NRL approach is keyed to the development and construction of a high power pulsed electron beam generator for heating dense plasmas in “Theta pinch” devices. The compression comes from the magnetic field generated when a current flows through a single turn coil wrapped around a cylindrical plasma (Theta pinch). The next step in the experiment will be to increase the magnetic field inside the Theta coil by compressing a conducting liquid metal liner.
As part of this experiment, called LINUS, a new inductive energy storage system will be developed which can steadily deliver the energy necessary for a continuing controlled fusion process. This energy storage technique would eliminate the requirement for the massive capacitor blanks now used almost universally to provide the required high voltage, high current surges of energy. Such huge capacitor banks would be incompatible with the compactness required for naval uses. Construction of the first LINUS device will follow a series of preliminary tests to be conducted next year.
Although the process of uncontrolled fusion has been attained many times in hydrogen bombs, controlled fusion has never been achieved to date anywhere in the world. Scientists of many nations are hard at work on the process because of its potential importance as an energy source in an energy starved world. The achievement of controlled fusion, if and when it occurs, will certainly rank as one of the outstanding scientific breakthroughs of the century.
Magnetohydrodynamics. Another long-range ONR-supported research effort aimed at improving naval propulsion systems concerns a liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) system. Conventional MHD systems use a plasma, such as neon “salted” with cesium, as the working fluid, requiring temperatures ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Liquid metal MHD, on the other hand, utilizes a metal such as liquid sodium heated to only 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit as the working fluid. The liquid metal is combined with a gas such as helium to speed the flow. Indications are that the efficiency of such a system in producing electrical power directly from a heat source would compare favorably with conventional steam turbine power systems. A liquid metal MHD system would eliminate the reduction gearing and much of the equipment associated with steam turbine systems and would be more compact, simpler and quieter. If a high efficiency liquid MHD system, could be developed, it should have wide application to naval propulsion systems and civilian power installations.
Biofeedback. A few naval research projects may seem so “far out” as to approach science fiction. As an example, ONR is involved in a research program concerned with developing techniques of human self regulation through the medium of biofeedback. This research is based on the concept that internal body processes usually assumed to be involuntary (such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and even brain waves) can be controlled in the same way we direct our own physical movements. This control can be achieved through training by means of biofeedback instrumentation that can detect small changes in the body processes and display them to the individual as they occur. By careful monitoring of the body processes, the individual is somehow helped to influence whatever particular process he is trying to control. As the technique of control is learned, the individual can eventually operate without biofeedback. Laboratory experiments have already demonstrated that subjects can to a limited degree control hand temperatures, brain activity, muscle relaxation, and other processes. Tests are now underway to determine to what extent such control can be applied in practical situations.
If such self regulation can be achieved on a routine basis, naval personnel would be able to dispel drowsiness in an instant, warm freezing hands by increasing their temperature, relax tense muscles completely within minutes, and calm the sensations of fear or nervousness. No drugs or outside stimulus would be needed. The Navy application of such a technique should be obvious. A ship at sea must be on the alert 24 hours a day. A man standing a sonar watch from midnight to 0400 might be lulled by the monotony of a sonar sweep, even though his own safety and that of his fellow crew members could depend on his detecting a target instantly. It would be a significant advantage if alertness as well as calm behavior under stress could be achieved by self-regulation.
Trends. The research efforts described above are but a few highlights from the more than 1,800 research projects administered by ONR. Most research projects may require years before the results are finally seen in the form of practical naval applications. Some research efforts are a failure and are abandoned. Others may result in negative information and are redirected or discontinued. However, the relatively small amounts of money spent on naval research compared to the cost of development of large systems makes the gamble and the long wait more than worthwhile.
In the last few years there has been a disturbing trend in this country to decrease the support of basic research and abandon a strong technology base. The emphasis today is on the application of technology to new devices and equipment at the expense of support of basic science. If this new trend continues, our store of new technology will be severely eroded and will gradually disappear.
This “get rich quick by application and forget basic research” syndrome is apparent throughout our government—in the Executive Department, in Congress, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in many parts of the Navy. For example, Congress made a 10% cut in the “Military Sciences” portion of the Fiscal Year 1973 budget of the Military Services. The “Military Sciences” element of the budget contains the total research efforts of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The National Science Foundation has recently established a broad new program called Research Applied to National Needs (RANN). The purpose of this program is to emphasize the application of research results rather than the broad support of science. The Navy has recently formally established a Technology Transfer program for the purpose of applying existing technology to civilian and industrial needs.
In the review of naval research programs by the Department of Defense, questions are now routinely asked as to the application of the results of a particular research effort—at times even before the research program has started. Research projects without a clear and immediate application are threatened with cancellation.
In 1960, the annual ONR research program finally reached the $100 million level. Since that time it has fluctuated between $110 and $135 million. The Fiscal Year 1973 level was $112 million which was worth about $80 million in 1963 dollars. The deteriorating effects of inflation and essentially level research budgets have severely decreased our naval research effort over the years. It is apparent that this downward trend will continue unless immediate and drastic stop-gap measures are taken.
The Navy has always been, and will continue to be, a critically important keystone of our national defense. In the past, the Navy has prided itself in being a “technical” organization. Since we must operate in the air, on land, on the sea, and under the sea, our technical problems with the environment are more severe than those of the other services. One of the primary reasons that our Navy has been superior in the past is the fact that it operated from a superior technology base.
One thing is certain—a strong and continuing naval research effort is critically essential if the Navy is to maintain its superiority in the future. Without such an effort, the Navy of the future will be little different and no more capable than the Navy of today.