• AFRL Incorporates Turbogenerator Into Integrated Cooling and Power System

    Engineers from AFRL and industry partner Smiths Aerospace successfully demonstrated the use of a turbogenerator in an integrated cooling and power system (ICPS) to provide extra power and cooling. This generator supplies additional power and cooling for aircraft that have no remaining margin for new

  • AFRL Funds Development of Self-Reconfigurable SuperBots

    An AFRL-sponsored research team from the University of Southern California is creating "SuperBots," self-reconfigurable robots capable not only of changing their logical or physical configurations (i.e., shapes, sizes, formations), but of altering their locomotion and manipulation to suit the

  • Airmen Obtain Better Access to AFRL-Developed Hearing Protection

    AFRL developed a unique hearing protection and communications system known as the Attenuating Custom Communications Earpiece System, or ACCES®, under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Westone Laboratories, Inc. The innovative technology improves hearing protection and

  • AFRL CRADA Improves Safety Standards for US Firefighters

    A study taking place at AFRL's Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design Laboratory under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) could lead to improved safety standards--and, consequently, fewer deaths--for the nation's firefighters and rescuers. The National Fallen

  • NATO Secretary General visits Afghanistan

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's top official traveled to Forward Operating Base Lagman here to meet with Afghan representatives and Coalition military members on Thanksgiving Day. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, during a two-day tour of the country, arrived for an evening

  • American troops in Kosovo to be seen during Dec. 11 hockey game

    VERSUS, the National Cable Home of the National Hockey League, has partnered with some troops deployed to Kosovo to give an early Christmas present to the peacekeepers and their families at home. On Dec. 11, 7 p.m. EST, everyone watching the Pittsburgh Penguins battle the Philadelphia Flyers on

  • AFRL vice commander kicks off Air Force aircrew anthropometry study

    The last time the Air Force conducted a large-scale anthropometric (human body measurements) survey of its pilots, Super Bowl I featured Green Bay defeating Kansas City 35-10 and popular music included "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones and "Penny Lane" by The Beatles. The year was 1967 and a lot

  • Civic leaders see deployed Airmen in action

    A Dayton region economic development official was among 15 civic leaders from across America who recently participated in a nine-day trip to the U.S. Central Command theater to observe Air Force combat operations. JP Nauseef, president and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition, visited the

  • Life-limited parts prove a problem for FMS customers

    Evolution of supply chain management created a ripple effect in the availability of life-limited engine parts for international partner jet engines -- items that are vital to keeping jets in the air. The U.S. Air Force has a single automated process in place to track life-limited parts by serial

  • 'CSI in the sky': Joint team assesses battle damage

    Anytime an aircraft takes battle damage, it's a big deal for members of the Joint Combat Assessment Team. Whether it's a helicopter that took a hit or a downed aircraft, the team responds. "Every threat has its own signature. When we train to be on JCAT, we learn how these threats affect aircraft