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AFGSC Chief Scientist discusses S&T challenges for the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise during AFIT visit

  • Published
  • By AFIT Public Affairs
  • AFIT
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, hosted Dr. Rodney Miller, senior leader executive and chief scientist for Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, LA,. Jan. 26, 2017.    Miller is an AFIT alum who earned a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering in 1993 and a doctorate in Applied Physics in 1998. 

The Global Strike command is responsible for organizing, training, equipping and maintaining all U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile and bomber forces.  As Chief Scientist, Miller is responsible for organizing, training, equipping, maintaining, and preparing the command's activities in the area of science and technology.

During his visit, Miller presented a seminar on the S&T challenges for the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise.  AFGSC is the lead major command for the nuclear deterrence operations core function. In this role, they deliver combat ready forces and continually assess any gaps in capabilities required by United States Strategic Command and national leadership. AFGSC teams with Air Force Materiel Command and other major commands to deliver materiel solutions to address near-, mid-, and far-term capability gaps. AFGSC collaborates with a wide array of government and external stakeholders to understand and advocate for advanced S&T supporting the NDO and nuclear enterprise missions. 

In his presentation, Miller discussed how AFGSC addresses S&T as a core function lead, presented several institutional and specific challenges facing the AF nuclear deterrence mission, and discussed how AFGSC is addressing these challenges in concert with the broader AF Nuclear Enterprise.

Dr. Sivaguru Sritharan, AFIT's provost and vice chancellor stated, "Dr. Miller's seminar and numerous individual meetings with AFIT faculty and students galvanized the AFIT community with a broad perspective on the enabling S&T areas for the AFGSC's mission. Subject areas discussed included research and educational aspects of: (1) hypersonics, in which AFIT and AFRL scholars jointly engaged in discussions with Dr. Miller (2) quantum computing, networks and key distribution (3) C-3 (Command, control and communication) networks and cyber (4) systems engineering (5) AFIT's nuclear research program and the B-52 bomber project (6) technical intelligence and missile plume signature diagnostics research (7) big data analytics  (8) unmanned systems and autonomy and (9) directed energy systems including High Energy Laser weapons."