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Stands up ICBM CTF
The growth of AEDC’s critical role in providing the United States Armed Forces with developmental test and evaluation support for the newest and premier weapon systems continues with the stand up of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Combined Test Force (CTF) to support modernization and life extension for the LGM-30 Minuteman III (MMIII) and development of the next-generation Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) ICBM.
On July 24, 2015, the Air Force Test Center was designated as the GBSD Lead Developmental Test and Evaluation Organization (LDTO). The Air Force Test Center subsequently appointed the AEDC Test Operations Division to serve as its primary interface to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center's GBSD Program Office and to serve as its LDTO Executing Test Organization.
Playing a role in prepping the Dream Chaser
The Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser space plane recently had a successful free-flight test over the Mojave Desert in California, later making its landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The Hypersonic CTF at Edwards AFB is managed by AEDC, which is headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee.
In addition to the flight testing at Edwards and the developmental testing of the EELV at Arnold Air Force Base, the braking system for the Dream Chaser has been tested by AEDC team members at the Landing Gear Testing Facility at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, which is part of the 704th Test Group, an AEDC unit.
Tests three-stream adaptive engine
In the summer of 2017, AEDC test teams successfully completed testing an adaptive three-stream fan in the J2 Engine Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base. The testing for Pratt & Whitney was conducted as part of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program.
Military turbofan engines currently have only two airstreams, one that passes through the core of the engine and another that bypasses the core. The development of a third stream will provide an additional source of air flow to improve propulsive efficiency lower fuel burn and provide additional cooling air, or to deliver additional air flow through the core for higher thrust. Having a third stream of air that can be modulated to adapt the engine's performance across the flight envelope means a fighter can access an on-demand increase in thrust or smoothly shift to highly efficient operations during cruise. This capability provides an ideal balance for combat scenarios requiring both high-end acceleration and increased range. The goal of the AETD program is to provide a 25 percent reduction in fuel consumption and a 10 percent improvement in thrust levels compared to today's fifth-generation combat aircraft engines.
Tunnel 9 reaches 20th anniversary as Air Force facility
October 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 as an Air Force facility. Tunnel 9, an AEDC site located at White Oak, Maryland, near Silver Spring, became operational in 1976. The facility provides aerodynamic simulation critical to the development of hypersonic systems, including critical altitude regimes associated with strategic missile systems and advanced defensive interceptor systems, and hypersonic vehicle technologies. The facility supports testing for Air Force, Navy, Army, Missile Defense Agency and NASA programs, as well as advanced hypersonic technologies such as wave-rider-type vehicles, scramjet inlets and transatmospheric space planes.
In addition to reaching a milestone anniversary, the team at AEDC Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Maryland, has been working to achieve 360-degree capability for tests involving temperature-sensitive paint, or TSP. Thanks to innovations developed after a customer’s need provided a push, the Tunnel 9 team’s TSP capability is now one step closer to painting the entire picture on wind tunnel models. The team built a prototype system mounted in the plenum of the T9 test cell tunnel to allow for data collection from the bottom of the test cell – the most challenging view from an engineering perspective.
Test facility being transformed
As part of the Hypersonic Test and Evaluation Investment Program (HyTIP), a team of AEDC engineers are heading up the Hypersonic Test Capability Improvement (HTCI) project that will totally transform the former J-5 Large Rocket Motor Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base. Nicknamed, “Project Phoenix,” this effort is structured in three phases that will produce a large-scale clean air variable Mach test facility with a longer runtime than any facility of its kind.
Jonathan Osborne, HTCI project manager and technical lead, has said, “Upon its completion, the HTCI facility will be the most capable facility for hypersonic weapon system development in the world.”
New solar array tested in AEDC space chambers
Testing in an AEDC space chamber at Arnold Air Force Base helped in preparing the Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) for its successful experimental deployment from the International Space Station on June 26, 2017. For ROSA, the AEDC space chamber simulated 15 years of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) in 121 days, getting down to -324 degrees Fahrenheit and then ramping up to 223 degrees Fahrenheit.
Supporting development of Towed Airborne Plume Simulator
AEDC engineers are supporting the continued development and testing of the Towed Airborne Plume Simulator (TAPS), a simulator that can be towed behind aircraft for testing missile warning and infrared countermeasure systems. The simulator is used to test missile warning systems on aircraft by being towed behind one aircraft while the missile warning system to be tested, the System Under Test or SUT, is installed on another.
Dr. Robert Hiers, principal investigator for TAPS, stated that TAPS is directly aligned with the AEDC mission of providing test tools to the developmental and operational test communities.
“TAPS has been used to test sensor systems for the C-17 Globemaster III and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft,” he said.
Facilities brought back online
Though it had not been used for testing in a decade, the AEDC Range S-1 underwent checkout operations in early 2017 in preparation for upcoming test projects.
Lt. Ryan Boudreaux, the Hypervelocity Flyout, Impact and Lethality Ground Test & Evaluation (T&E) capability manager, and Scott Williams, the capability’s technical lead, oversaw the checkout of S-1.
Lt. Col. Jason Armstrong, materiel leader and director of the AEDC Space & Missiles Combined Test Force (CTF), commented that the reactivation of this range is significant for AEDC and its present and future T&E customers.
"The re-activation of S-1 has not only brought back our capability to perform smaller scale hypervelocity impact testing but has also attracted multiple Department of Defense-sponsored customers seeking the type of testing we can now provide in this range,” Armstrong said.
Testing for the Graflight V-8, a high-efficiency, diesel engine designed and produced by Engineered Propulsion Systems (EPS), brought about the reopening of the AEDC T-11 engine test cell at Arnold Air Force Base. This test at T-11 was sponsored by an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Advanced Power Technology Office (APTO), Broad Area Announcement (BAA), which focuses on the research and development of engines that use a variety of fuels more efficiently. With the success of the EPS testing, AEDC test teams anticipate more testing in T-11.
Test envelope for wind tunnel expanded
The AEDC 16-foot transonic wind tunnel, or 16T, at the Propulsion Wind Tunnel facility at Arnold Air Force Base, is expanding its test envelope by achieving conditions previously not reached in the facility, and as a result, will be able to support more test customers.
This expansion, known as notch operations and meant to fill in a portion of the gap from 0.3 to 0.6 Mach, was achieved in April 2017 by modifying the total pressure capability of 16T. Expanding the envelope of 16T is part of the Improve Transonic Plant Capability Test Investment Planning and Programming project or IMTPC.
704th Test Group part of Light Attack Campaign
In August 2017, the 704th Test Group, a unit of AEDC, was part of a Light Attack Experimentation Campaign. Air Force senior leaders and international visitors were in attendance for the live-fly capability assessment of off-the-shelf light attack aircraft hosted by the 704th TG at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
In its first week, the light-attack experiment featured Air Force pilots flying basic surface attack missions in the Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer A-29 Super Tucano, the Textron Aviation Scorpion jet and AT-6 Wolverine turboprop. Air Force pilots also completed familiarization flights of the Air Tractor Inc. and L3 Platform Integration Division’s AT-802L Longsword.
AEDC is one of three installations which are part of the Air Force Test Center, one of six subordinate commands of the Air Force Materiel Command organization and an important national resource.
Headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base in middle Tennessee, AEDC has operating locations at the Federal Research Center at White Oak near Silver Spring, Maryland; at Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, and Edwards AFB, California; Eglin AFB, Florida; Holloman AFB, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
The Complex has contributed to the development of practically every one of the nation's top priority aerospace programs. Customers include the Department of Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force organizations; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, both domestic and foreign private industry, allied foreign governments and educational institutions.
| Date Taken: | 02.02.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2018 15:47 |
| Story ID: | 264961 |
| Location: | ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 304 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, AEDC remains a leader in latest test and development capabilities for the nation, by Deidre R Moon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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