• AFRL experiments to fly on last Endeavour space shuttle mission

    When the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla., as scheduled on Friday, April 29, at 3:47 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, two experiments administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate here

  • AFRL and ION sponsor Annual Mini-Urban Challenge

    Navigating the sprawling metropolis, your vehicle makes a right at the intersection, travels down the road (mindful of the speed limit) and pulls into the second parking spot on the left. You look at your watch and realize you only have 30 minutes to travel to the city's tallest skyscraper on the

  • Air Force officials focus on efficiency improvements

    Air Force acquisition and finance officials briefed the Wright-Patterson acquisition community on ways they can be more efficient at the 2011 Spring Program Review town hall meeting here at the Air Force Institute of Technology's Kenney Hall on April 5.Lt. Gen. Tom Owen, Aeronautical Systems Center

  • Laser-Induced Ignition Eliminates Need for Spark Plug (Diversity)

    AFRL researchers successfully demonstrated resonant laser-induced ignition of a propane-air flow mixture, a concept in an aircraft combustor that would eliminate the protruding spark plug. In place of the spark plug would be an insulated wall electrode where the fiber-optic-coupled laser enters and

  • Carbon Foam Well Suited to Thermal Management

    Thermal management is critical to aerospace systems, and researchers at the Air Force Research Lab are tailoring carbon foam materials to enhance thermal protection in Air Force applications. Carbon foam materials are well suited to the task because of their unique high-temperature properties, high

  • Thermal Battery Production Boosted by Title III Project

    The AFRL has teamed with ENSER Corporation in a Defense Production Act Title III project to advance the domestic production capability for cobalt disulfide (CoS2) thermal batteries, which will be used in a wide variety of air-to-air, air-to-ground, and ground-to-air defense systems.Thermal batteries

  • AFMC surveys workforce to gauge interest in early retirement, separation

    Air Force Materiel Command will survey its civilian workforce beginning May 1, 2011, to determine how many individuals would be interested in applying for a fiscal year 2011/12 VERA/VSIP incentive program.  Officials said base employees at Wright-Patterson will likely be invited to take the

  • Troops to receive full mid-month pay April 15

    All service members will receive their full mid-month pay they have earned in their paychecks April 15, 2011, Pentagon officials said today."Basically, all active duty and reserve service members will receive full mid-month pay on the 15th of April," Pentagon spokesman Marine Col. Dave Lapan said.