• ManTech Effort Facilitates Production of Aircraft Coating Technology

    Thanks to an AFRL Manufacturing Technology effort, there now exists a newly established process for producing pigments and nanolayer thin films on a large-scale, continuous basis. These products, which are used in aircraft surface coatings, play a role in improved aircraft survivability and also

  • Moth Eyes Inspire Antireflective Skins for UAVs

    Researchers at National Taiwan University are expanding upon the antireflective properties of moth eyes to make better protective skins for Air Force unmanned air vehicles. With funding from the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development--an international detachment of AFRL--Professor

  • Benchtop Fuel Cell System Demonstrated

    Working with Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center and United Technologies Research Center, AFRL researchers conducted a successful ground demonstration of a 1.5 kW "packaged" solid oxide fuel cell operating on synthetic JP-8 fuel produced via Fischer-Tropsch processes.

  • Engineers Lend Expertise to Warfighter Power Pack Competition

    The proficiency and resourcefulness of AFRL's technical workforce paid dividends in a contest to develop a portable power capability for warfighters in the field. The engineers were part of a contingent responsible for final testing of the wearable power systems constructed by individual inventors,

  • Solar Mass Ejection Imager Exceeds Expectations

    Greatly surpassing its anticipated 3-year design lifetime, AFRL's Solar Mass Ejection Imager recently completed its sixth year in operation. Throughout this period, the SMEI has compiled an unprecedented dataset of full-sky images (taken every 100 min) and consequently proved that coronal mass

  • Optical Emission Reveals Absolute Density of Energetic Metastable Atoms

    AFRL propulsion researchers optimized a spectral analysis tool that leverages simple optical emission measurements to yield information on absolute argon metastable concentrations in an ionized gas. Metastable atoms are long-lived energetic species of great interest to scientists due to their

  • Nanotube Technology Out-Muscles the Competition

    With primary financial support coming from AFRL, the University of Texas at Dallas is researching a new kind of artificial muscle--one composed of carbon nanotubes--for use in Air Force aerospace and space applications. For more than 20 years, a team of researchers led by Dr. Ray Baughman, director

  • Developmental High Scout Technology Passes the Test

    AFRL conducted successful integration test of a developmental high-altitude technology known as High Scout, a combined unmanned air vehicle/airship configuration. The test involved inflating the contractor-built, 130 ft long and 40 ft diameter airship with helium to simulate stationkeeping at 65,000