Commanding officers from the Coast Guard Research and Development Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory have signed a joint memorandum of understanding that allows greater opportunity for the agencies to work together on projects of mutual benefit.

The research and development center, based in New London, stands to profit from this partnership in several research areas including 3-D printing, Arctic operations, modeling and simulation, cyber research and satellite technology to include CubeSats, or miniature satellites.

Capt. Greg Rothrock, commanding officer of the Research and Development Center, and Maj. Gen. William Cooley, commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, signed the document in a ceremony hosted at Air Force lab headquarters in Dayton, Ohio.

"RDC is very excited about this new affiliation with AFRL," Rothrock said in a prepared statement. "Establishing an MOU is just the start of what we see as a long-term relationship to collaborate where we can on common research that benefits both the Coast Guard and Air Force."