Wichita State University hosted Lieutenant General L. Neil Thurgood and representatives from the U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office on July 10 for discussions and tours of National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) laboratories.
LTG Thurgood is the director for Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army. He and his team met with WSU Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer John Tomblin and NIAR researchers to discuss future Army needs related to advanced materials.
They toured NIAR headquarters, the NIAR Aircraft Structural Test and Evaluation Center in Park City and the 3DEXPERIENCE Center, a partnership with Dassault Systèmes, in WSU’s Experiential Engineering Building.
The WSU visit also included a lunch and discussion with Wichita State’s Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) team, Shocker Battalion. The ROTC program is new to WSU this fall.
The team also met with representatives from Spirit AeroSystems and toured the production facilities.
Spirit and the U.S. Army are integral partners in NIAR’s new Advanced Technology Laboratory for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS), which investigates the development of manufacturing protocols for automated fiber placement and automated tape laying for aircraft structures.
NIAR recently announced a $33 million contract from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center for a project focused on emerging materials for high-speed missile applications.
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