• Scramjet MHD System Generates Electrical Power

    An inherent limitation of scramjets [supersonic combustion ramjets] is their inability to provide air vehicle systems--especially future air vehicles that use high-power directed energy weapon systems--with electrical power using conventional generators.Conventional gas turbine engines produce

  • X-51A Achieves Successful Combustion on JP-7

    AFRL engineers began tests on the SJX61-1 engine using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center's 8-foot high-temperature tunnel. The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne SJX61-1 (or X-1) is a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet [supersonic combustion ramjet] engine featuring full

  • AFRL Develops High-Temperature Aircraft Camouflage Coating

    Working under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, scientists from AFRL and the Texas Research Institute developed a high-temperature aircraft camouflage coating for use on the titanium slats of C-17 aircraft. This coating will significantly increase the survivability of operational

  • AFRL Researchers Perform Functionally Graded Material Bending Tests

    AFRL researchers completed quasi-static bending tests of functionally graded titanium/titanium boride test specimens. The twofold purpose of this test effort was to gain a better understanding of the material-structure interactions and to evaluate laboratory testing tools and techniques.

  • AFRL Researchers Test Sense-and-Avoid Technology

    In an effort to improve the safety and expand the reach of unmanned air vehicles (UAV), AFRL scientists conducted a series of Sense-and-Avoid Flight Tests (SAAFT) in Niagara Falls, New York. AFRL established the SAAFT program to demonstrate autonomous collision avoidance capabilities in both

  • AFRL Assists Northrop Grumman With Supersonic Tailless Air Vehicle Tests

    AFRL provided a full-motion flight simulation environment to test candidate control systems for Northrop Grumman's Supersonic Tailless Air Vehicle (STAV) concept. The testing, conducted in the lab's Large-Amplitude Multimode Aerospace Research Simulator (LAMARS), incorporated design improvements

  • AFRL Enhances Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Analysis

    The AFRL-managed Air Force Materiel Command Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) program office recently demonstrated the Web-based Air Force Module's (AFM) value in linking the service to the Diminishing Manufacturing Sources (DMS) Shared Data Warehouse (SDW). The DMS

  • AFRL Helps Identify Intelligent Communication and Hearing Protection System

    AFRL researchers assisted the US Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF) in identifying an adaptive intelligent communication and hearing protection system designed to enhance military operations and make hostile environments less dangerous for US ground forces. The new, lightweight technology--known as