Know the Past...Shape the Future--The Official Podcast of AFHF

Part II: New World Vistas, the 1995 Technology Forecast that looked forward thirty years to the future of the USAF and the Space Force.


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On 10 November 1994, SECAF Dr. Sheila Widnall and CSAF Gen. Ronald Fogleman, challenged the USAF Scientific Advisory Board to look into the future of air, space and computational technology and create a broad, forward-looking study in one year’s time. Dr. Widnall’s challenge was powerful “…this is not another Air Force internal requirement scrub to justify the Air Force science budget. Rather, it should be a truly independent futuristic view of how the exponential rate of technology change will shape the 21st Century Air Force. My goal for you is that you should publish New World Vistas in December 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Toward New Horizons.” General Hap Arnold had challenged Dr. Theodore von Kármán to look far into the future and create a report that could guide the air forces into a technologically advanced world. On 15 December 1995, Toward New Horizons was delivered to the Chief and the Secretary during holiday celebrations near Dr. Widnall’s office in the Pentagon, fulfilling the challenge. Today, the contents of that S&T report are largely forgotten, but they should not be. Contained within the volumes are forecasts for the evolution of hypersonic technology, unmanned weaponry and refueling possibilities, command and control consolidation, 3D-command centers and much, much more. The Air Force Historical Foundation is proud to present Gen Fogleman and Mrs. Natalie Crawford, Chair of the Attack Panel, who recount the creation of NWV, its impact, and its failures.

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Know the Past...Shape the Future--The Official Podcast of AFHFBy Matt Jolley