JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Pacific Air Forces hosted the sixth annual Science and Technology Information Exchange Meeting (STIEM) here Nov. 4-8.
The Science and Technology Information Exchange Meeting brought together approximately 200 Defense Industry Partners, technologists and military service members to identify near-term solutions that address current mission challenges, mitigate threats and develop technology roadmaps designed to engage and educate senior leaders.
“The PACAF STIEM was highly successful, bringing our nation’s warfighters together with technology providers,” said Dr. Jeffrey Sanders, PACAF chief scientist. “I have no doubt we will look back on this week as a springboard toward more meaningful collaborations and an acceleration of new capabilities that support the PACAF strategy and enhance U.S. Air Force air dominance now and well into the future.”
PACAF’s Advanced and Warfighter Integration Division develops an annual list that identifies key investment, research and acquisition requirements and tracks near-term solutions across the spectrum of government, science and technology partners and industry.
The list is based off areas PACAF can improve its readiness posture through the use of technology to give a decisive edge over an adversary.
Col. Carlton Keen, PACAF Advanced and Warfighter Integration Division chief, stated that these events are crucial in bridging the gaps between science and technology and the warfighter.
“Our Defense Industry Partners and technologists need constant exposure to our mission set so that what they create in the laboratories and the factories produces relevant effects,” Keen said.
This year’s STIEM focus areas were: High Fidelity Full Spectrum Training; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear; assured Position, Navigation, and Timing and Resilient Space; Air-to-Surface Weapons; Full Spectrum Base Defense; and Cyber/Network Security.
“Focus areas were identified early in the year to facilitate pre-STIEM discussions between technologists and PACAF subject matter experts,” said Dr. Sanders. “The science and technology briefings were on point, allowing for fruitful discussions.”
The event also featured a Technology Showcase, which highlighted small businesses, many local to Hawaii.
“To the greatest extent possible, the defense industrial base must keep in lockstep with us by learning about advances in technology and giving them to opportunities to solve our gaps,” said Keen.
Exchanges such as these allow for open collaboration among our nation’s forward thinkers in uniform, academia and industry and will help transform the Air Force into the force of the future.