• Researchers Develop Lightweight Next-Generation Airfield Matting System

    Researchers from AFRL and Webcore Technologies, Inc., made significant headway in the design and development of a strong, lightweight-composite-based airfield matting system for forward aircraft deployments. The next-generation matting system touts a 36% weight reduction over the extruded aluminum

  • AFRL Demonstrates Live-Virtual-Constructive Concept

    AFRL researchers demonstrated a real-time, real-world live-virtual-constructive (LVC) concept for improving the quality and efficiency of training delivered to joint terminal attack controllers (JTAC)--Air Force (AF) troops who operate within Army units to identify targets and coordinate close air

  • Nanotubes Improve Thermal Conductivity in Adhesively Bonded Joints

    AFRL research scientists are working with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) to explore innovative uses of nanotechnology for reducing aircraft life-cycle costs and improving aircraft systems reliability. The team recently demonstrated the conceptual use of multiwalled carbon

  • AFRL Engineers Develop Anisotropic Material Modeling

    AFRL engineers developed and implemented new material models that accurately predict the behavior of highly anisotropic materials. The models are formulated for implementation across continuum-level finite element codes but can also accommodate evolution of texture and deformation mechanisms

  • AFRL Researchers Fine-Tune F-35 Speech Recognition System

    Due in part to testing and analysis conducted at AFRL, the F-35 Lightning II will be the first US fighter aircraft equipped with a speech recognition system capable of "hearing" a pilot's spoken commands to manage various aircraft subsystems, such as communications and navigation. AFRL researchers

  • AFRL Assists Development of Friendly Marking Devices

    Prompted by AFRL's initiation of a rapid reaction project, a team of systems engineering graduate students from the Air Force Institute of Technology succeeded in developing advanced friendly marking devices (FMD) that can be detected by an aircraft targeting pod. The Core Process 3driven effort

  • AFRL Demonstrates Urban FAST Sensor Capabilities

    Engineers from AFRL and the Mustang Technology Group teamed for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research effort to develop and test Urban Fuze Air-to-Surface Technology (FAST). Urban FAST is a precision height-of-burst (HOB), ground-profiling fuze sensor capable of engaging targets in urban

  • AFRL Assists in User Evaluation of Vehicle Inspection System

    AFRL engineers traveled to Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB), Alaska, to assist in the user evaluation of the Mobile Under-Vehicle Inspection System (MUVIS), a system designed to reduce the danger military personnel face while performing under-vehicle searches for explosives. MUVIS allows its operator

  • AFRL Funds Research of Oil-Repellent Surfaces

    AFRL is sponsoring investigations of super-oil-repellent surfaces for their potential utility in cleaning up jet fuel spills and protecting aircraft or rocket parts from fuel absorption. Dr. Gareth H. McKinley and Dr. Robert E. Cohen, professors of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of