• Value Stream Analysis Improves Processes, Saves Money

    Engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory have stimulated industrial base investments in infrastructure and technology by leveraging the value stream analysis (VSA) process to identify significant process improvement opportunities.As a result, General Electric Aviation, Pratt & Whitney and

  • Space Weather Imager Reaches 8-Year Anniversary

    October 2011 marks the eighth anniversary of the Coriolis satellite that carries the Air Force Research Laboratory's Solar Mass Ejection Imager, or SMEI.SMEI has successfully detected and tracked 360 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and shown the practicality of forecasting effects at Earth of these

  • Observatory Construction Awarded

    The Improved Solar Optical Observing Network (ISOON) contract for construction at Kirtland AFB was awarded to GranCor Construction on July 1, 2011.The Improved Solar Observing Optical Network (ISOON) is collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, the Air Force

  • AFRL Develops Advanced Techniques for Electromagnetic Propagation

    The Air Force is interested in increasingly more complex optical systems, which often include optical propagation through the turbulent atmosphere followed by sensing and compensating with complex devices. The Air Force Research Laboratory, through a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

  • New Firefighting Suit Increases Chemical, Biohazard Protection

    Military firefighters can count on increased protection from the effects of chemical and biological agents thanks to a cooperative project between the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency's (AFCESA) Fire Emergency Services Program. The new Joint Firefighter

  • New Fuel Cell System Reduces Weight for Warfighters

    Air Force Research Laboratory engineers are developing a new fuel cell system that will reduce the amount of weight that warfighters must carry in the field.The new UltraCell XX55 fuel cell system replaces batteries needed for recharging, allowing recharge of batteries for fielded gear via a

  • Precision Lethality Responds to Urgent Operational Need

    Precision Lethality MK82 is a Quick Reaction Capability acquisition program to field a 500-lb composite case warhead (BLU-129) capability in response to a United States Central Command Joint Urgent Operational Need for a very low collateral damage weapon. The Air Force Research Laboratory teamed

  • AFRL Leads Innovation with Texas Instruments Release

    The Air Force Research Laboratory's investment in radiation-hardened components pans out with Texas Instruments' (TI) newest release - a commercially available 16 Mb radiation-hardened memory component. The component, called Static Random-Access Memory, or SRAM, allows the Department of Defense to

  • Deployable Boom Successfully Unfurls

    The Air Force Research Laboratory's deployable boom experiment was successfully unfurled in low-Earth orbit, or LEO, from NASA's NanoSail-D satellite on Jan. 20, 2011. This is the first in-orbit deployment of the Triangular Rollable And Collapsible (TRAC) boom, and the first deployment of a

  • AFRL Program to Enable Solar Cells

    The Air Force Research Laboratory, in cooperation with United Solar Ovonic LLC, established a program to build on technology developed under previous Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects. Taking full advantage of the research and development findings gleaned from SBIR