Hadron Physics at FAIR

To deepen our understanding of the properties and structure of matter, new large-scale facilities are under construction or in preparation worldwide that provide for novel research capabilities in many areas of science.The GSI-Darmstadt laboratory together with the international user community, has developed the concept for such a facility to broadly address frontiers in strong-interaction physics and in the general research with intense ion beams. The new facility builds, and substantially expands, on the present accelerator system. Primary beams of high-energy ions, and secondary beams including antiprotons and beams of short-lived nuclei, together with an intricate system of beam-storage and experimental rings, are its key features.This report provides a short overview of the science motivation of the hadron community for the facility, as well as of its technical layout and performance characteristics.