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)