The military services reached a new technological milestone when the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) introduced its first-ever supercomputing site for classified research at the AFRL Department of Defense (DoD) Supercomputing Resource Center.
The center is at the Ohio Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where there are four supercomputers–Mustang, an unclassified supercomputer, and Voodoo, Shadow, and Spectre, which “support higher classification levels that impact critical DoD research areas and address increasing demand across the Defense Department,” the Air Force wrote in an article.
Seven thousand square feet of classified space will be added Air Force base to house these supercomputers to help meet the increased demand for shared, high-classification research and information across the armed services.
“This creates an environment for Air Force, Army, and Navy researchers to quickly respond to our nation’s most pressing and complex challenges,” said Jeff Graham, director of the AFRL DoD Supercomputing Resource Center.
Graham also said that the supercomputing environment will be more economically efficient.
“Programs will not need to spend their budget and waste time constructing their own secure computer facilities, and buying and accrediting smaller computers for short-term work,” Graham said. “This new capability will save billions for the DoD while providing additional access to state-of-the-art computing.”