April 20, 2024 AFRL researchers pave the way to lighter, faster additively manufactured rocket engines The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, Rocket Propulsion Division, recently designed, printed, built and hot fired a first-ever, single-block rocket-engine thrust chamber additively manufactured using a process called laser powder directed energy deposition, or DED. DVIDS link:
April 15, 2024 AFRL-developed physiological monitoring system undergoes flight tests An Air Force Research Laboratory-developed physiological monitoring system for pilots completed a series of F-16 flight tests March 4-17, 2024, at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, or TPS, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron also completed flight tests on
Aug. 2, 2023 AFRL artificial intelligence agents successfully pilot XQ-58A Valkyrie uncrewed jet aircraft The Air Force Research Laboratory led a successful three-hour sortie, July 25, 2023, demonstrating the first-ever flight of artificial intelligence agents (algorithms) controlling an uncrewed jet aircraft – the XQ-58A Valkyrie.
April 25, 2023 Air Force pilots reach new program milestones in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft Four Air Force pilots remotely flew a Joby electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at the company’s Marina, California, manufacturing facility April 20. They were the first Air Force personnel to assume remote pilot-in-command responsibilities and transition flight for the eVTOL,
Aug. 19, 2022 Modified X-62 helps accelerate tactical autonomy development The Air Force Research Laboratory Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office has invested $15 million upgrading a decades-old workhorse to make it relevant for 21st century warfighter challenges.
April 11, 2022 AFRL completes series of 1 Newton ASCENT monopropellant thruster testing The Chemical Propulsion Flight Programs Group at the Air Force Research Laboratory has successfully completed the Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-toxic Propellant (ASCENT) monopropellant 1 Newton (1N) thruster testing in the Chemical in-Space Thruster Test and Research Site test facility.
March 17, 2022 Reserve Airman makes history with first USAF-piloted eVTOL vehicle flight Capt. Terrance McKenna, the test and experimentation lead for Agility Prime and a C-5 and T-38 pilot with the 370th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS), an Air Force Reserve Command unit out of Edwards Air Force Base, California, made history with first USAF-piloted eVTOL vehicle flight.
March 17, 2022 Reserve Airman makes history with first USAF-piloted eVTOL vehicle flight Just south of his home in Brooklyn, New York, a young Terrence McKenna spent much of his childhood in Prospect Park tossing around wooden gliders and flying remote-controlled airplanes, each aircraft more complex and capable than the last.By the early 2000s, McKenna came across an ad for flying
Feb. 11, 2021 Edwards AFB conducts Space Force Transfer Ceremony The 412th Test Wing hosted a ceremony for 17 Airmen who have transferred as Guardians in the Space Force at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Feb. 11.
April 22, 2020 ET-CTF completes new test bed flight tests The Emerging Technology Combined Test Force successfully completed flight tests on its newest autonomous aircraft test bed last month at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The flight tests are in support of the Skyborg project with the goal to ultimately provide an autonomous software testing