The Air Force Test Center is modernizing how it tests by modernizing how it manages data.
Test and evaluation is generating larger volumes of information at faster rates as systems become more software-defined, networked and data-heavy. AFTC’s Next Generation Data Ecosystem, known as NGDE, is designed to connect data, tools and teams across the center so test results can move more quickly from collection to analysis to decision.
The 2025 National Security Strategy underscores why that pace matters, calling for investments that preserve U.S. advantages in “AI, quantum computing, and autonomous systems,” along with the energy required to power those domains. It also emphasizes maintaining U.S. leadership in technology and standards, “particularly in AI, biotech, and quantum computing.”
Building an ecosystem, not a single tool
John Volk, AFTC’s Acting Chief Technology Officer and Chief Data Officer, said the shift toward a data-centric approach traces back to Goal 3, Knowledge Management – Big Data Analytics, in the AFTC Digital Modernization Strategy from July 2022. The goal’s objectives focus on infrastructure, data platforms, applications, people and processes, all aimed at enabling a more standardized approach to data analysis.
NGDE was created as a portfolio to bring those efforts together. Volk said it provides a hybrid cloud environment that connects AFTC on-premise systems to each other and to the cloud to meet future test needs for the 412th Test Wing, 96th Test Wing and Arnold Engineering Development Complex, along with other partners.
That portfolio approach also helps reduce duplication. Volk said NGDE consolidates disparate wing projects into an AFTC enterprise “to ensure resources are maximized and solutions are not being duplicated across the Wings,” while ensuring testers and decision-makers have on-demand access to data and tools.
LIFTT replaces static coordination with real-time visibility
One example of NGDE-enabled modernization is the Large Integrated Force Test Tool, known as LIFTT, a Cloud One hosted application developed for the Multi-Domain Test Force to support the Test Flag Enterprise. Volk said LIFTT provides planning, execution, analytics and reporting through a web interface so participants can access dynamic information needed to conduct test flag exercises.
“Prior to LIFTT, test flags, which are often multi-domain test events, communication relied on email and static documents on shared drives,” he said.
For large-force, all-domain test activity, the shift to LIFTT reduces friction in coordination and improves the speed of shared situational awareness, helping teams spend less time managing files and more time executing and learning from test.
Governance and security built into the rollout
To standardize enterprise approaches, Volk said the AFTC Data Governance Board reviews proposals for enterprise solutions and sets policy for best-of-breed technologies. The board is a five-person committee composed of the AFTC chief data officer, AFTC digital engineering lead and three wing chief data officers. The board has reviewed proposals and set policy for enterprise code repositories and DevSecOps pipeline platforms, and will host presentations Jan. 22, 2026, for AFTC enterprise cloud data storage proposals. Data security remains a core requirement. Volk said AFTC cybersecurity subject matter experts have provided guidance for NGDE projects since inception, and each platform and application must complete the Risk Management Framework process to achieve an Authority to Operate.
The National Security Strategy also highlights the importance of defending networks and improving real-time “discovery, attribution, and response,” reinforcing the need to modernize while protecting data.
Fixing the data bottleneck
Christopher Hereford, AFTC’s digital engineering lead, said NGDE is aimed at removing barriers that slow collaboration, especially when transferring large test data sets between locations and partners.
“If you haven’t run into the problem of how to get 100GB of test data off an aircraft at Edwards and sent to Eglin or to a Prime contractor, consider yourself lucky,” Hereford said. “This is a painful scab that we hope to heal over soon.”
Hereford said a centralized, searchable classified data store accessible from each wing can significantly reduce delivery timelines.
“We will speed up data delivery by at least 4 hours if not days in some cases,” he said.
The next phase: infrastructure, DevSecOps and AI
Volk said the next five to 10 years are critical for building high-speed data transport between sites and the cloud, expanding platforms for storage and analytics, maturing DevSecOps with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery pipelines and developing applications that analyze test data with common tools across cloud and edge compute environments.
“The game changer will be artificial intelligence as NGDE is actively engaged with AI projects,” Volk said. According to Hereford, AFTC is pursuing multiple AI efforts, including an AFTC AI Dev platform, AFTC Fences, future Copilot integration on NIPR systems and the use of the GenAI.mil.
Hereford tied AI’s importance to workforce realities.
“I do not see our manning increasing significantly so our efficiency must and AI can help,” he said. At the national level, the strategy emphasizes the need to remain the world’s most scientifically and technologically advanced and protect intellectual property that underpins military superiority.
For AFTC, NGDE is the backbone that helps turn that direction into day-to-day capability: moving data securely at speed, reducing duplication, improving collaboration and setting the conditions for analytics and AI to help testers deliver trusted results faster.
The AFTC Digital Materiel Management T&E Summit will be held April 21-22, at Los Angeles AFB. The 5th Annual summit will focus on digital and data projects not just at AFTC but with participation from across the Department of War.
| Date Taken: | 01.12.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.13.2026 13:36 |
| Story ID: | 556151 |
| Location: | EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
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