AFMC Command News

  • AFTC Commander learns more about the AEDC mission

    This month, Maj. Gen. Evan Dertien made his first visit to Arnold Air Force Base since taking on his latest role as the commander of the Air Force Test Center.During his two-day stop, Dertien had the opportunity to see many of the test facilities on base and speak with experts in each of the mission

  • AEDC sea level facility helps validate sensors on turbofan engine

    The same nine vendors who visited Arnold Air Force Base as part of the Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group, or PIWG, meetings last fall recently returned.This time, instead of simply viewing an engine installed in the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Sea Level Test Cell 1 and making plans

  • AFTC prepares for next-gen radar cross section testing

    The ever-improving technology of the U.S. military requires the test and evaluation capabilities of the Air Force Test Center organizations to keep pace to prove the superiority of the systems and give confidence to the warfighters using them. At the National Radar Cross Section (RCS) Test Facility

  • AEDC tests directed energy system in wind tunnel

    The Aerodynamics Branch of Arnold Engineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base is helping the Air Force take directed energy (DE) systems airborne.DE systems use high-energy lasers or microwaves to degrade or destroy threats and targets. “There is a growing interest for directed energy

  • National Radar Test Facility adds VHF capability to heavyweight turntable

    The 704th Test Group, Detachment 1 of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex has improved the radar cross section (RCS) test capability at the National Radar Test Facility tenfold.“The VHF addition to our heavyweight turntable allows us to unleash our full RF [radio frequency] spectrum on all

  • Space Test Branch helps change the world with decades of testing

    With the first ballistic missile being introduced in 1944 during World War II, the newest threat to the nations of the world was realized.At this time, the V-2 rockets, the world’s first long-range, guided, ballistic missiles, were not very accurate, but this new capability created new urgency for

  • Propulsion Test Branch at Arnold AFB helping power the Air Force since 1950s

    The Engine Test Facility (ETF), which is part of the AEDC Propulsion Test Branch at Arnold Air Force Base, was the first facility on base, with its construction completed in 1953.Equipment making up the ETF test cells, such as the motors and compressors, were confiscated from a Bavarian Motor Works

  • AEDC expands footprint from coast-to-coast over past 24 years

    Since Arnold Engineering Development Center, now Complex, was dedicated in 1951 in middle Tennessee, the organization has grown to include many units, spanning the country from Maryland to California with many points in between. Most of the units and organizations were formed prior to joining AEDC

  • AEDC supporting Golden Horde testing

    The 586th Flight Test Squadron, Detachment 1, a unit of the 704th Test Group of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, is currently supporting one of the Air Force Vanguard programs – Golden Horde.Vanguards, part of the Air Force 2030 Science and Technology Strategy, are focused on advancing

  • AEDC critical to fielding DARPA OpFires

    Critical testing for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program was recently completed in Arnold Engineering Development Complex test facilities.  This testing supported the DARPA Operational Fires, or OpFires, program, and was completed in October 2020 in the von Kármán Gas Dynamics

  • Full speed ahead: Mach 18 now available to test customers at AEDC Tunnel 9

    Test customers in need of serious speed are lining up to take advantage of an unprecedented capability now available at Arnold Engineering Development Complex Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md.Calibration of the Mach 18 system was completed at Tunnel 9 in July 2020, less than two months

  • U.S. Space Force official gets first-hand look at Arnold AFB

    Gen. David D. Thompson, vice chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, recently visited the Arnold Engineering Development Complex headquarters at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., to gauge how AEDC space test and evaluation capabilities can support the newest branch of the nation’s