AFMC News

May 20, 2022
AEDC stands up 804th Test Group with ceremony

An official ceremony was held May 20 at Arnold Air Force Base, headquarters of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, to activate the 804th Test Group as part of reorganizing AEDC to align with the traditional Air Force structure.“The activation of the 804th Test Group at Arnold Air Force Base
May 10, 2022
Redesigned birdchaser sleds at Holloman test track saves time, money

The birdchaser sleds, used to mitigate bird and animal strikes during HHSTT test missions, are one of the two main methods of mitigating animal strikes. Orchard cannons and small birdchaser sleds are fired in the range of 10 to 40 seconds before the mission sleds.
May 3, 2022
Missionized tire wear testing helping tire designers fail fast to move forward

High costs and long lead times can be a deterrent to innovation. The team at the Landing Gear Test Facility, or LGTF, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is trying to lower those barriers for aircraft tire manufacturers.
May 3, 2022
Missionized tire wear testing helping tire designers fail fast to move forward

High costs and long lead times can be a deterrent to innovation. The team at the Landing Gear Test Facility, or LGTF, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is trying to lower those barriers for aircraft tire manufacturers.
April 4, 2022
Decommissioned Mach 8 tunnel removed to make room for future test opportunities

The hardware making up the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Tunnel E facility has been scrapped, leaving behind a mostly empty room in the building that also houses Tunnel D at the von Kármán Gas Dynamics Facility at Arnold Air Force Base.It hasn’t been an active wind tunnel in years, so the
March 18, 2022
AEDC engineers team with local business, UTSI to apply optical flow visualization to jet engine testing

Working together with a local business and academic professionals at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Arnold Engineering Development Complex team members at Arnold Air Force Base are studying optical measurement techniques to better evaluate turbine engine exhaust characteristics during
March 14, 2022
New device leads to cost, time savings for von Kármán Facility maintenance

Five Arnold Engineering Development Complex team members created a device to help reduce cost and time in maintaining equipment for the von Kármán Gas Dynamics Facility, or VKF, at Arnold Air Force Base.
Feb. 25, 2022
Standard models provide beneficial data prior to customer tests in AEDC wind tunnels

To validate the latest capabilities of the wind tunnels, Arnold Engineering Development Complex team members in the Aerodynamics Test Branch conducted testing last year on standard models in 16T and 16S, 16-foot transonic and supersonic wind tunnels, and Tunnels B and C, 50-inch hypersonic wind
Jan. 28, 2022
AEDC engineers assist with SBIR effort researching noise reduction of aircraft engines

Through a Small Business Innovative Research contract awarded to MetroLaser, Inc., by the U.S. Navy, a system is being developed to measure the gas velocity of engine exhaust to help find ways to reduce noise from aircraft.Bernie Williamson, Air Force project manager, explained that in November the
Dec. 20, 2021
Virtual reality capability used during sensor validation in AEDC test cell

When performing sensor validation tests in the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Sea Level Test Cell 1, or SL-1, this summer, AEDC engineers at Arnold Air Force Base had the opportunity to view in nearly real-time a three-dimensional representation of the test hardware and support systems using
Nov. 19, 2021
Intern creates tool pilots can use during flight

This summer, Jacob Moreno, a senior at the University of Texas at El Paso, spent his time as an intern with the 586th Flight Test Squadron, or FLTS.In the spirit of innovation and accelerating change, Moreno coded a program that automatically deciphers airspace data into a graphical format that
Nov. 9, 2021
AFTC Airmen spark data solutions at hack-a-thon

Various participants, also referred to as “hackers” from the 412th Test Wing in California, the 96th Test Wing in Florida, and Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee combined efforts to create an event that could potentially solve U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School sponsored data
Oct. 26, 2021
Arnold Diversity and Inclusion initiatives now in motion

Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., commander, Air Force Materiel Command, issued diversity and inclusion, or D&I, guidance last fall, and shortly followed it with the 2020 AFMC D&I Survey.The survey led each site or installation to establish a D&I Command Action Plan, or CAP, and all CAPs were due to AFMC
Oct. 25, 2021
Masters earns high honor from aerospace organization

A member of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex team is among a group of professionals from around the globe who will soon be formally honored for their contributions to the aerospace field.Dr. James Masters, a model and simulation engineer at Arnold Air Force Base, the headquarters of AEDC,
Oct. 25, 2021
Holloman High Speed Test Track completes two recovery missions at over 5,000-feet per second

Since July 2021, the 846th Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., successfully stopped two sleds traveling over 5,000-feet per second on a monorail as part of the Hypersonic Sled Recovery, or HSR, effort.According to Daniel Lopez, project manager for the test that was completed in July, the

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