Air Force Test Center
Air Force Test Center | |
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Maj Gen Evan Dertien | |
Insignia | |
Air Force Test Center emblem |
The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) is a development and test organization of the United States Air Force. It conducts research, development, test, and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to deployment. It has test flown every aircraft in the Army Air Force's and the Air Force's inventory since World War II. The center employs nearly 13,000 people, and controls the second largest base in the Air Force.[1]
On 6 July 2012, the previous Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) was redesignated as the Air Force Test Center (AFTC).[2] Up until July 2012, the AFTC consisted of two subordinate wings. The 95th Air Base Wing (95 ABW) provided installation support for all units on Edwards Air Force Base while the 412th Test Wing (412 TW) conducted aircraft testing and evaluation at Edwards. In July 2012, the redesignated 96th Test Wing (96 TW), an amalgamation of the former 96th Air Base Wing, the former 46th Test Wing and the former Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and the Arnold Engineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, also came under control of the AFTC.
Overview
The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) conducts developmental and follow-on testing and evaluation of manned and unmanned aircraft and related avionics, flight-control, and weapon systems. AFTC also operates the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, which trains test pilots, flight-test engineers, and flight-test navigators.
The center has tested all the aircraft types in the Air Force inventory, and the center's workforce—civilian, military and contractor—work together to flight test and evaluate new aircraft and upgrades to aircraft already in inventory for Air Force units, the Department of Defense, NASA and other government agencies. Upgrades to be tested here include improvements to radar, weapons-delivery and navigation systems, and a system to give tactical pilots the ability to strike ground targets from low altitudes at night and in adverse weather.
The Air Force Test Center develops, operates and maintains the Edwards Flight Test Range and Utah Test and Training Range. It also operates the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. The center provides test infrastructure, overhead support for development, and operational test and evaluation support for aerospace research vehicles. AFFTC resources include the test and evaluation mission simulator, the Benefield Anechoic Chamber, Ridley Mission Control, and the Integration Facility for Avionics Systems Testing.
Units
- 412th Test Wing (Tail Code: ED)[3]
- The 412th Test Wing plans, conducts, analyzes, and reports on all flight and ground testing of aircraft, weapons systems, software and components as well as modeling and simulation for the U.S. Air Force. The Wing also oversees the base's day-to-day operations and provides support for military, federal civilian, and contract personnel assigned to Edwards AFB.
- 412th Operations Group.[3]
- There are eight flight test squadrons under the 412th Operations Group with as many as 20 aircraft assigned to each. The 412 OG flies an average of 90 aircraft with upwards of 30 different aircraft designs. It also performs more than 7,400 missions (including more than 1,900 test missions) on an annual basis. The aircraft are grouped by mission
- Global Power (fighters and bombers)
- 411th Flight Test Squadron: (F-22)
- 416th Flight Test Squadron: (F-16)
- 419th Flight Test Squadron: (B-52H, B-1, B-2)
- 445th Flight Test Squadron: (Initial Flight Test Operations, T-38)
- 461st Flight Test Squadron: (F-35 Joint Strike Fighter)
- Global Power (fighters and bombers)
- Global Reach (transport and air refueling)
- 412th Flight Test Squadron: (C-135C Speckled Trout)
- 418th Flight Test Squadron: (C-130 and special operations and special mission variants; CV-22; KC-135 and special variants; C-17A)
- Global Reach (transport and air refueling)
- Global Vigilance (unmanned)
- 452d Flight Test Squadron: (RQ-4)
- Global Vigilance (unmanned)
- 412th Test Management Division
- 412th Test Management Group
- 412th Electronic Warfare Group
- 412th Engineering Division
- The Engineering Division and the Electronic Warfare Group provide the central components in conducting the Test and Evaluation mission of the 412 TW. They provide the tools, talent and equipment for the core disciplines of aircraft structures, propulsion, avionics and electronic warfare evaluation of the latest weapon system technologies. They also host the core facilities that enable flight test and ground test—the Range Division, Benefield Anechoic Facility, Integrated Flight Avionics Systems Test Facility and the Air Force Electronic Warfare Evaluation Simulator. The Project and Resource Management Divisions provide the foundation for the successful program management of test missions.
- 412th Civil Engineer Division
- 412th Maintenance Group
- 412th Medical Group
- 412th Mission Support Group
- U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAFTPS)[3]
- The USAF Test Pilot School, also part of the 412th Test Wing, is where select Air Force pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, and engineers learn how to conduct flight tests and generate the data needed to carry out test missions. A small number of Army Aviators and USN and USMC Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers also attend USAFTPS. Human lives and millions of dollars depend upon how carefully a test mission is planned and flown. The comprehensive curriculum of Test Pilot School is fundamental to the success of flight test and evaluation.
- Detachment 1, Air Force Test Center, United States Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California. Aircraft manufacturing facility.***
- ***Detachment 3, Air Force Test Center is an unconfirmed designated name for facilities at Groom Lake, Nevada, where classified testing may be carried out.
Air Force Flight Test Museum
The Air Force Flight Test Museum is open to military personnel with credentials to enter the base as well as general public tours offered periodically. The museum also features 40 aircraft on display at the museum or the nearby Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale, California. The museum also features aircraft engines, missiles, hardware, life support equipment, technical drawings, test reports memorabilia, and models.[4][5]
Ongoing Research projects
- Lockheed Martin X-56 (UAV)
History
World War II
Flight testing began at Muroc Army Air Base (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) during
On 30 September, Bell's test pilot Robert Stanley was undergoing some high-speed taxiing trials with the XP-59A when the aircraft "inadvertently" became airborne for a short time, reaching an altitude of ten feet for one-half-mile during high speed taxi tests. However, the first official flight was on 1 October with NACA, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, Royal Air Force, Army, Bell and General Electric personnel on hand.[7]
XP-59 aircraft testing continued at Muroc for the remainder of 1942 and in 1943. The second XP-59A flew on 15 February 1943 and the third late in April. Shortly before the first flight of the XP-59A, the USAAF had placed an order for one hundred P-59A Airacomets. However, the performance of the XP-59A service test aircraft had proved to be rather disappointing, not even up to the standards of conventional piston-engined fighter aircraft already in service with the USAAF. It was considered rather unlikely that any appreciable improvements in the performance of the P-59 would soon be forthcoming, and by the early fall of 1943 the Airacomet was no longer considered by the USAAF as being worthy of consideration as an operational combat type.[7]
Most of the P-59s went to the
In the fall of 1944,
Although the XP-59A provided valuable experience to the USAAF in the operation of jet-powered aircraft, it was basically a flying testbed and not a combat-capable aircraft. The USAAF had to look elsewhere in its search for an effective jet fighter. The first flight of the
Postwar era
Following the war flight testing officially became the base's primary mission. Test work on the Lockheed P-80, the successor to the XP-59 was undertaken for the greater part of 1945. The
On 14 October 1947, Captain
The first
Air Force Flight Test Center
With the transfer of Edwards AFB from Air Materiel Command to the newly created Air Research and Development Command, the postwar 2759th Experimental Wing was inactivated, being replaced by the Air Force Flight Test Center on 25 June 1951.[7]
Technology pioneered through the AFTC led to remarkable advancements in aviation. The "
The 1960s ushered in the Space Age. The Test Pilot School was re-designated as the Aerospace Research Pilot School as it began to train future astronauts. The
Along with the X-15, pilots at Edwards were expanding the frontiers of atmospheric flight, testing the
With the decline of the military crewed space mission after the
In April 1981, the wheels of
The 1990s saw the arrival of the Lockheed YF-22 and the Northrop YF-23 prototype fighters, both using stealth technology and designed for air supremacy with agility, high-speed and supersonic cruise capability. Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was tested that has subsequently been used extensively for high-level reconnaissance in the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq began testing in February 1998. The MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper attack counterparts, tested at Edwards, today fill a critical role in the Global War on Terrorism.
More recently the AFTC has been part of the
Effective 6 July 2012, it was re-designated from the Air Force Flight Test Center to the Air Force Test Center, part of a new five-center construct across Air Force Materiel Command. The new name reflects AFTC's expanded mission which includes Eglin AFB and Arnold AFB as well as flight test activities at Edwards.[2]
Lineage
- Established as 477th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron (Reduced), 17 February 1942
- Disbanded on 11 March 1944
- Established as 730th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Flight Test), 11 March 1944
- Re-designated: 4144th Army Air Forces Base Unit, 1 October 1946
- Re-designated: 2759th Air Force Base Unit, 29 August 1948
- Re-designated: 2759th Experimental Wing, 20 May 1949
- Inactivated on 25 June 1951
- Established as Air Force Flight Test Center and organized on 25 June 1951.
- Re-designated: Air Force Test Center on 6 July 2012
Assignments
- Army Air Forces Materiel Command, 17 February 1942
- Air Technical Service Command. 31 August 1944
- Air Materiel Command, 9 March 1946
- Research and Development Command on 23 January 1950
- Air Research and Development (later Air Force Systems) Command, 25 June 1951
- Air Force Materiel Command, 1 Jul 1992–Present
Major Components
- 3077th Experimental Group, 20 May 1949 – 25 June 1951
- 6510th Air Base Wing, 25 June 1951 – 4 October 1954
- 6510th Air Base Group, 4 October 1954 – 1 March 1978
- 6512th Test Pilot Training Squadron, 1 September 1952 – 1 March 1961
- USAF Test Pilot School, 1 January 1953 – Present
- 6510th Test Group, 1 July 1959 – 25 October 1963
- 6512th Test Group, 1 July 1959
- Re-Designated: 6512th Test Wing, 1 October 1969 – 1 January 1973
- Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, 25 October 1963 – Present
- 4200th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 1 January 1965 – 2 October 1992
- 18th Survival Squadron, 1 January 1967 – 30 June 1975
- 6510th Test Wing, 1 March 1978
- Re-designated 412th Test Wing, 2 October 1992–Present
List of commanders since 2012
No. | Commander | Term | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Term length | |
1 | Major General Arnold W. Bunch Jr. | June 19, 2012 | June 18, 2015 | 2 years, 364 days | |
2 | Major General David A. Harris[10] | June 18, 2015 | August 3, 2018 | 3 years, 46 days | |
3 | Major General Christopher Azzano[11][12] | August 3, 2018 | July 15, 2021 | 2 years, 346 days | |
4 | Major General Evan Dertien[13] | July 15, 2021 | Incumbent | 2 years, 269 days |
See also
References
- ^ "AFFTC Fact Sheet". Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
- ^ a b "AFFTC to be re-designated as Air Force Test Center". U.S. Air Force. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ a b c Edwards AFB Units Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – TOPICS". Edwards Air Force Base. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "[Home Page]". Flight Test Historical Foundation. Flight Test Historical Foundation. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ Against the Wind, 90 Years of Flight Testing in the Miami Valley, History office, Aeronautical Systems Center, Air Force Materiel Command, 1993
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j K286.69.37, Volume 1, History of the Air Force FLight Test Center, Air Force Systems Command, AFHRA, 1961.
- ^ a b c James O. Young, The U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center Archived 12 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f Edwards Air Force Base Guide, Edwards AFB Public Affairs Office, 2013
- ^ "MAJOR GENERAL DAVID A. HARRIS > Air Force > Biography Display".
- ^ "Air Force Test Center welcomes new commanding general".
- ^ "CHRISTOPHER P. AZZANO > Air Force > Biography Display".
- ^ "MAJOR GENERAL EVAN C. DERTIEN". Retrieved 26 May 2021.
Bibliography
- Gelzer, Christian. 60 Years of Flight Research at NASA Dryden. Edwards Air Force Base, California: 60 Years of Flight Research at NASA Dryden.
- Luther, Craig W. X-Planes at Edwards AFB. Edwards Air Force Base, California: Air Force Flight Test Center History Office, 2007.
- Young, James A. The U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center: Forging Aerospace Power for America. Edwards Air Force Base, California: Air Force Flight Test Center History Office, 2007.