The U.S. Government provides massive, systematic support to the U.S. commercial aircraft industry pursuant to a long-standing U.S. policy of striving to maintain U.S. superiority in all areas of aeronautics technology. One can reasonably estimate that government support to the industry during the past 15 years was in the range of $18-22 billion. The support comes through three principal means: U.S. Defense Dept. R&D; NASA R&D, and the U.S. tax system.

After the completion of the National Research Council (NRC) report, Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Aeronautics: Scenario-Based Strategic Planning for NASA's Aeronautics Enterprise (1997), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology requested that the NRC remain involved in its strategic planning process by conducting a study to identify a short list of revolutionary or breakthrough technologies that could be critical to the 20 to 25 year future of aeronautics and space transportation. These technologies were to address the areas of need and opportunity identified in the above mentioned NRC report, which have been characterized by NASA's 10 goals (see Box ES-1) in "Aeronautics & Space Transportation Technology: Three Pillars for Success" (NASA, 1997). The present study would also examine the 10 goals to determine if they are likely to be achievable, either through evolutionary steps in technology or through the identification and application of breakthrough ideas, concepts, and technologies.

A study was undertaken that investigated the relationship between the use of U.S. government technical reports by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists and selected institutional and sociometric variables. Survey research is the methodology used for the study. Data were collected by means of a self- administered mail questionnaire. The approximately 34 000 members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) served as the study population. The response rate for the survey was 70 percent. A dependent relationship was found to exist between the use of U.S. government technical reports and three of the institutional variables (academic preparation, years of professional aerospace work experience, and technical discipline). The use of U.S. government technical reports was found to be independent of all of the sociometric variables. The institutional variables best explain the use of U.S. government technical reports by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists.