Delegations from various IFAR member institutions visited Germany in June.
DLR aeronautics research sites and the international aerospace trade fair ILA Berlin were the focus of the visit.
Focus: Aeronautics, international cooperation
IFAR, the International Forum for Aviation Research, is the world’s aviation research establishment network. This year, delegations from all member organisations were invited to Germany to visit the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) at the most important aeronautics research sites, as well as the Berlin International Airshow (ILA).
During the visit, Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Chair of the DLR Executive Board, emphasised: "An international approach is needed to reduce the impact of aviation on the climate and the environment. I am convinced that IFAR is up to this task and will be able to provide global solutions for our society."
As part of the IFAR event in Germany, 45 high-ranking international guests from 11 countries visited DLR at the Cochstedt and Braunschweig sites, including colleagues from Portugal (CEIIA), Italy (CIRA), Poland (ILOT), Romania (INCAS), Japan (JAXA), USA (NASA), the Netherlands (Royal NLR), Canada (NRC), France (ONERA), the Czech Republic (VZLU) and Austria (TU Wien). Most research institutions were represented at the highest board level (Ibrahim Yimer (NRC), Bob Pierce (NASA), Hisashi Sano (JAXA), Michel Peters (NLR), Pawel Stezycki (ILOT) and Catalin Nae (INCAS).
IFAR brings together around 35,000 scientists from 26 aviation research institutions worldwide. A founding member since 2011, DLR is part of the Leadership Team (currently represented by Markus Fischer, DLR Divisional Board Member for Aeronautics) and provides the IFAR Secretariat.
The visit to DLR's National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt took place on 20 June 2022, and was followed by a visit to the DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems and DLR Flight Experiments in Braunschweig. Topics included the new testing facilities at the Cochstedt site as well as the diverse applications of Europe's largest fleet of research aircraft.
Through detailed presentations and site visits, the participants were able to obtain a complete picture of the demanding and groundbreaking work conducted at the institutes and research facilities. The IFAR High-level Principal Only Meeting and a parallel joint meeting of the IFAR working groups took place after the visits.
On the morning of 21 June 2022, part of the delegation travelled to the Berlin Aviation Summit (BAS). The remaining IFAR guests met again at the DLR site in Braunschweig to discuss pressing topics such as the path towards zero-emission aviation in various working groups (UAM, Composites, Sustainable Aviation and Noise). Additional tours of the DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology and the Institute of Flight Systems in Braunschweig took place in the afternoon.
The high-level visit ended with the IFAR delegation travelling on to Berlin, where further successful bilateral meetings took place at ILA Berlin. The IFAR Steering Committee also met at the DLR site in Berlin-Adlershof. It will be followed by meetings in September at the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) Congress in Stockholm, and in October at the annual IFAR Summit in Prague.
