AF Rapid Sustainment Office to launch sustainment innovation hub
The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office is changing how the Air Force delivers new and emerging technology to the sustainment enterprise. The RSO’s latest initiative is the creation of the Identify-Apply-Scale (IAS), a first-of-its-kind capability devoted solely to the sustainment of Air Force systems.
A partnership with the University of Dayton Research Institute, this comprehensive and premier network, which has been in development since 2018, will soon be opening its virtual doors, offering its partners and customers real-time access to pitch sustainment concepts, exchange transformative ideas, and demonstrate technologies ready to rapidly transition to the field. The IAS is scheduled to be operational later this year.
This novel capability gets its name from the RSO’s technology delivery approach of Identify-Apply-Scale. Essentially, sustainment technologies are identified across the public and private sectors, then prototyped and validated (applied) in an Air Force environment, and finally deployed (scaled) across the Air Force enterprise. The IAS will serve as the epicenter of identifying, adapting, accelerating and scaling solutions for the Air Force’s most significant challenges around sustaining aircraft and staying mission ready.
“The RSO is very excited about the capabilities the IAS will offer our Air Force customers and mission partners,” said Nathan Parker, RSO deputy program executive officer. “At its core, the IAS will harness rapid technological advancements required to improve mission readiness and strengthen our competitive military advantage.”
The capability’s networked “hub and spoke” model – which places the RSO central to the “hub” connected by the “spokes” of venture-backed startups, academia, university-affiliated research centers and industry consortiums – will help ensure sustainment innovation for the Air Force continues unabated, even during times where in-person collaboration is not possible, such as the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
“The IAS Hub demonstrates the RSO’s commitment to the Air Force mission and to keeping our nation’s security at the forefront at all times, even during times of crisis,” said Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center commander and RSO program executive officer.
Additionally, the IAS will allow the RSO to carry forth its goal of rapidly addressing Air Force sustainment challenges by streamlining the Identify-Apply-Scale process. Cross-functional teams of engineers, technicians, program managers, supply experts, and business leaders will be able to tap the full potential of the IAS network, including access to government experts in contracts, financing and security. This single, approachable interface will also provide access to government organizations and networks of manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and research experts.
The IAS will provide a revolutionary arena in which sustainment technology ideas can be created, demonstrated, and implemented in order to ensure Air Force fleets are constantly at the ready.
About the RSO
Established by the secretary of the Air Force in 2018, the Rapid Sustainment Office increases mission readiness by rapidly identifying, applying and scaling technology essential to the operation and sustainment of the U.S. Air Force. To learn more, visit
https://www.afrso.com.
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