Laboratory Information:
Air Force Test Center
USAF AFTC
307 E. Popson Avenue
Edwards AFB, CA 92354-6842
Website: http://www.edwards.af.mil
Agency/Department: Dept. of Defense - Air Force
Region: Far West
FLC Laboratory Representative:
Mr. James Deckert
Phone: 661-277-6883
Fax: 661-277-3773
Email: james.deckert@edwards.af.mil
Background/History of the Laboratory:
The Flight Test
Center is known for its ability to conduct aerodynamic tests
such as performance and flying qualities evaluations. The
capability to test and evaluate subsystems and to perform
total weapons system evaluations has also existed since the
mid-1950's. The AFTC is one of the premier Test
Organizations and has state of the art facilities and world
class engineers and pilots to support all aspects of airframe
and avionics testing. Capabilities include fully instrumented
ranges, integration test facilities, man in the loop
simulators and installed systems test facilities. The Test
Center is capable of testing the complete weapon system, from
the airframe and engine to the avionics and weapon
compatibility. Each subsystem is evaluated to determine
performance, function with other systems as well as the
overall integrated system performance in a mission
environment. The weapon systems are evaluated under climatic
extremes at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin AFB and
in desert, arctic and tropical sites. Reliability and
maintainability and technical order verification of each
subsystem, as well as operational capability of the total
weapon system is assessed. The human interface with the
system is evaluated. The Test Center has facilities to
do load and flutter tests. The Avionics Test and Integration
Complex is composed of the Benefield Anechoic Facility,
Integration Facility for Avionic Systems Test, and Test and
Evaluation Mission simulator. The AFTC also conducts research
and development necessary for improvement and modernization
of ranges, facilities, test techniques and analysis. It
supports Space Shuttle landings and the continuing developing
of capabilities to test and evaluate all atmospheric flight
aspects of manned aerospace vehicles. The Test Center also
conducts the research and development necessary for the
improvement and modernization of ranges, facilities, test
techniques and is supporting the Space Shuttle and evaluating
its ability to support the DoD mission. Development of the
capability to test and evaluate the atmospheric flight
aspects of future manned vehicles is a continuing
effort.
Mission of the Laboratory:
The (AFTC) is
designed to support the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)
mission by conducting and supporting tests of manned and
unmanned aerospace vehicles, conducting flight evaluation and
recovery of research vehicles and development testing of
aerodynamic decelerators.
Facilities:
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
- Education Partnerships
- Facility Sharing
- Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
- T2 Workshops
Technology Areas of Expertise:
- High Performance Computing
- Human Factors
- Icing/Refueling
- Instrumented Propulsion
- Integrated Modeling and Test Environments
- Aerospace Ground Equipment
- Air Data Calibration
- Air Traffic Control (Airspace)
- Aircraft Corrosion Control
- Aircraft Gun Harmonization
- Aircraft Gun Harmonization (Gun Butt)
- Aircraft Horizontal Thrust Measurement
- Aircraft Modifications
- ATCALS and Meteorological Systems
- Avionic Systems
- Avionics Testing and Integration
- Climate/Weather/Ocean Modeling and Simulation
- Computational Chemistry and Materials Science
- Computational Electromagnetics and Acoustics
- Computational Electronics and Nanoelectronics
- Computational fluid dynamics
- Computational Structure Mechanics
- Electronic Warfare
- Electronic Warfare Evaluation Simulation
- Environmental Quality Modeling and Simulation
- Fiber Optic Backbone Network
- Flight Testing and Open Air Ranges
- Forces Modeling and Simulation
- Ground Vibration/Structures
- Hardware-in-the-loop
- Logistics Test and Evaluation
- Measurements
- Missile/Munition Integration
- Mission Support Facilities
- Modeling and Simulation (M&S)
- Nondestructive Inspection
- Open Air Ranges
- Runways/Dry Lakes
- Signal/Image Processing
- Stores Weight & Inertial Systems
- Systems Integration
- Tensile Strength Measurement
- Test and Evaluation Modeling and Simulation
- Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment
