IDCAST Partners With Industry for Third Frontier Effort

This color, 80-megapixel, EO array with 16-megapixel spotter zoom enables ground-based surveillance. (AFRL image)

IDCAST Partners With Industry for Third Frontier Effort

Persistent Surveillance Systems is working with government agencies to leverage both airborne and ground-based persistent surveillance techniques. The monochrome, 96-megapixel, electro-optic gimbaled array shown here is designed for airborne surveillance. (AFRL image)

MUPI Conference Reception Features Keynote on AFRL Opportunities

Mr. Ed Lee, AFRL Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions program manager, recently delivered a presentation on AFRL opportunities to 2010 Member University Professional Institute Conference goers. (AFRL image)

Optical Societies Honor AFRL Engineer

In addition to being a Fellow of AFRL and SPIE (the International Society for Optical Engineering), Dr. James G. Grote now holds Fellow status in the Optical Society of America and the European Optical Society. (AFRL image)

Axing the Competition

AFRL's Battle-Axe Ordnance warhead improves precision-guided submunitions defeat of diverse ground targets. Pictured is a detonation sequence captured during recent tests of the munitions technology. (AFRL image)

Axing the Competition

AFRL's Battle-Axe Ordnance warhead improves precision-guided submunitions defeat of diverse ground targets. Pictured is a detonation sequence captured during recent tests of the munitions technology. (AFRL image)

Sensors Engineers Ever Vigilant in Warfighter Response

A surface-to-air missile launches during testing at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada (pictured left). AFRL's Vigilant Sentinel missile warning sensor (pictured right) underwent successful demonstration during these tests. (AFRL image)

AFOSR Initiates Russian and U.S. Scientists’ Collaboration in Plasma Aerodynamics

Scientists from the U.S. and Russia, engaged in a unique collaboration organized by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), are conducting research in high-speed wind tunnel facilities to make discoveries in plasma-assisted combustion and plasma-based flow control. (Credit: Surampudi, EOARD)

X-51A to make hypersonic flight try May 25

Air Force officials said the X-51A Waverider will make its first hypersonic flight test attempt Tuesday, May 25, after it’s released by a B-52 bomber off the southern California coast. Four X-51A cruisers have been built for the Air Force Research Laboratory by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The X-51A is powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, engine which burns JP-7 jet fuel. (The Boeing Company)

X-51A to make hypersonic flight try May 25

Air Force officials said the X-51A Waverider will make its first hypersonic flight test attempt Tuesday, May 25, after it’s released by a B-52 bomber off the southern California coast. Four X-51A cruisers have been built for the Air Force Research Laboratory by industry partners Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. (Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne)

Human Effectiveness Directorate Studies Effects of Live Vs. Simulator JTAC Training

Senior Master Sergeant Alan Van Pate (standing) calls in an airstrike to “destroy” an enemy tank during joint combat air support training on the Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) virtual training dome at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range in Alpena, Mich. Technical Sergeant Claire LaFleur (seated) enters information into the simulator so that the simulated aircraft reacts as intended. The 711th Human Performance Wing, Human Effectiveness Directorate’s Warfighter Readiness Research Division in Mesa, Ariz. is using the Grayling Range as a testing site for ways to improve JTAC training.

Human Performance Wing’s Fatigue Research Targets the Brain

Eric Zalusky, Research Technologist at the Kettering Innovation Center, Kettering, Ohio, conducts fatigue research on Technical Sergeant Chris Myers, an Aircrew Flight Equipment Craftsman with the711th Human Performance Wing, Human Effectiveness Directorate, Biosciences and Performance Division, Vulnerability Analysis Branch (711 HPW/RHPA) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. As part of the research, Technical Sergeant Myers takes a memory test as a functional MRI scans his brain so scientists can determine which areas of his brain are changing as he applies his memory. (Photo by Chris Gulliford, 711 HPW)

Environmentally-Safe Fuel Cells May Emerge from Air Force Funded MIT Research

A carbon nanotube can produce a very rapid wave of power when it is coated by a layer of fuel and ignited. (Graphic: Christine Daniloff)

Light-Activated Technology for Battlefield Injuries

Harvard Medical School professor and Massachusetts General Hospital Wellman Center researcher, Dr. Irene Kochevar is pleased with the initial lab bench experiments involving light-activated technology that may benefit airmen’s traumatic battlefield injuries. (Credit: Harvard University)

Rad-Hard Boost for Space Communications

Air Force Research Laboratory Small Business Innovation Research funded High-Power Optical Amplifier (pictured), a radiation-hardened technology for improved space-based satellite and laser communications (Photo courtesy of Aydin Yeniay, Photon-X, LLC)

FALCON Fast, Far, and First

High-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle equipped with FALCON, the Fast Airborne Laser Communications Optical Node, for demonstration testing in Albuquerque, New Mexico (AFRL image)

Conference focuses on DoD acquisition workforce

More than 700 military, civilian and contractor acquisition professionals and defense industry partners gather for a 3-star panel discussion during the DoD Acquisition Insight Conference April 20, 2010 at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. The conference, sponsored by the Defense Acquisition University, focused on challenges faced by the Department of Defense acquisition workforce. (DoD photo/Erica Kobren)

USAF School of Aerospace Medicine Occupational and Enviromental Health Department (USAFSAM/OED)

Before receiving Air Force occupational and environmental health assignments, both officers and enlisted personnel undergo many weeks of specialized training, taught by the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine's Occupational and Enviromental Health Department (USAFSAM/OED). Here, a student in the Bioenvironmental Engineering Apprentice course measures the radioactivity level of a sample during training at the school. (USAF photo by Erik Brazones)

AFRL leading biofuels research

Joseph Mantz runs an emissions measurement test using a helicopter engine burning a bio-mass based jet fuel March 30 at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Air Force is readying for certification flight testing using fuels derived from plant oils and animal fats, which are blended 50-50 with traditional JP-8 jet fuel. Mr. Mantz is a research technician with the University of Dayton Research Institute. (U.S. Air Force photo/Bonnie White)

AFRL leading biofuels research

Dr. Tim Edwards is leading the Air Force Research Laboratory's efforts to develop alternative biofuels like this camelina oil-based jet fuel in intermediate storage at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Air Force is about to embark on certification testing for hyro-treated renewable jet (HRJ) fuels, derived from animal fats and plant oils, which are blended with traditional JP-8. Dr. Edwards is a senior chemical engineer with AFRL's Propulsion Directorate. (U.S. Air Force photo/Bonnie White)

OSU President visits Wright-Patterson

Adam Fullenkamp briefs Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee (left center), on the 711th Human Performance Wing during a tour of the Air Force Research Laboratory by Ohio State University officials March 31, 2010 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Laboratory engineers play a vital role in protecting warfighters from 21st century threats and enhancing their performance. Also pictured are Professor Jan Weisenberger (left), OSU's senior associate vice president of research, Mr. Joe Sciabica, AFRL executive director, and Julia Parakkat. Mr. Fullenkamp and Ms. Parakkat are both researchers with the Biosciences and Performance Division. (U.S. Air Force photo/Al Bright)

OSU President visits Wright-Patterson

Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee speaks with Jason Blake during a March 31, 2010 tour of Air Force Research Laboratory facilities at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Mr. Blake is a 2009 graduate of The Ohio State University who now is a materials engineer for AFRL. (U.S. Air Force photo/Al Bright)

USAFSAM collaborates with industry to make new color vision test available

MSgt Robert Sanders looks at the blue color vision segment of the new Cone Contrast Test at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine’s Aerospace Ophthalmology Branch laboratory. The CCT is a software-generated clinical color vision test that indicates type (red, green or blue) and severity (mild to severe) of color vision deficiency and quantifies normal color performance. (Photo by Erik Brazones USAFSAM/EDD)

USAFSAM collaborates with industry to make new color vision test available

MSgt Robert Sanders looks at the red color vision segment of the new Cone Contrast Test at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine’s Aerospace Ophthalmology Branch laboratory. The CCT is a software-generated clinical color vision test that indicates type (red, green or blue) and severity (mild to severe) of color vision deficiency and quantifies normal color performance. (Photo by Erik Brazones USAFSAM/EDD)