MSBAI delivers AI-driven hypersonic aerothermodynamics capabilities to USAF

MSBAI, an Air Force Techstars 2020 company, announced the successful completion of its AFWERX Phase 2 SBIR contract, titled GURU Owns the Modeling and Simulation Tech Stack. This milestone represents a significant advancement in the U.S. Air Force's digital engineering capabilities for next-generation supersonic and hypersonic aircraft development, unlocking the power of Air Force High Performance Computing (HPC).

Awarded under the 2021 Air Force 'Digital Engineering Pitch Day' initiative, MSBAI has delivered a groundbreaking autonomous solution that can set up Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for high-speed aircraft in a matter of minutes - a process that traditionally takes hours to complete. This transformative capability, embodied in MSBAI's GURU platform, responds to the U.S. Department of Defense's imperative to accelerate AI adoption, as recently outlined by Dr. William W. Streilein, Chief Technology Officer for DoD's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO).

The 'Digital Engineering Pitch Day' initiative was launched to identify and accelerate the development of novel digital engineering capabilities that could benefit the U.S. Air Force. AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and powered by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), sought innovative solutions that could advance the Air Force's digital transformation and improve their ability to rapidly design, develop, test, and field new systems. "Digital engineering isn't an option … it's essential. It's faster, it's cheaper, it's better," said Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett.

"The digital engineering pitch day was a critical step in accelerating the Air Force's digital transformation,” says J. Kyle Hurst, Chief of the Department of the Air Force Digital Transformation office (DAF DTO). “By tapping into the innovative capabilities of non-traditional defense companies, we were able to identify solutions that can truly revolutionize how we design, develop and field new systems."

The successful delivery of GURU, now operational at the Air Force Research Laboratory's DoD Supercomputing Resource Center (AFRL DSRC), marks a critical milestone in the Air Force's digital transformation efforts. Vince 'Swath' Pecoraro, Lead Program Manager at DTO, commended the MSBAI team, stating, "Great leadership is in place, and the GURU product continues to impress. The DAF Digital Transformation Office will continue to support!"

With this successful contract completion, MSBAI is poised to further expand its transformative AI-driven capabilities to support the U.S. Air Force and American high speed aircraft designers in their pursuit of next-generation air superiority.