• AFRL Evaluates Life-Saving Body Cooling Technology for Firefighters

    AFRL's Fire Research Group is evaluating the Vapor Relief™ System (VRS), a new, commercial off-the-shelf technology that is leading the way in providing firefighters with the means to stay cool in extreme heat conditions. The VRS has potential uses throughout the Department of Defense and the

  • AFRL Proves Feasibility of Plasma Actuators

    AFRL is laying the groundwork to develop revolutionary hypersonic aerospace vehicles. Researchers are examining the feasibility of replacing traditional mechanical actuators, which move like wing flaps to control an air vehicle's flight control surfaces, with plasma actuators that require no moving

  • AFRL Enhances Reactive Conformal NLET Technology

    As part of its Reactive Conformal Inlet Technology Enhancement program, AFRL is examining conformal inlet technology. Conformal engine air inlets are flush to an air vehicle's fuselage, causing less drag and increasing survivability compared to other inlet designs. AFRL is examining technology to

  • AFRL Earns Patent for Airframe Integrated Energy Storage Technology Concept

    Future air vehicles with onboard systems for powering directed energy weapons will require capacitors that, if manufactured using today's technology, would weigh thousands of pounds. Consequently, AFRL researchers have begun exploring ways to integrate load-bearing capacitor fibers into air vehicle

  • AFRL Completes Aerospace Relay Mirror System Demonstration

    AFRL's Aerospace Relay Mirror System (ARMS) program successfully completed a formal review of laboratory test results. ARMS is a prototype laser relay system designed to redirect and focus the beam of a ground-based or airborne high-energy laser (HEL) onto a target, significantly increasing the

  • AFRL Researches Use of Pulsed Coolant for Film Cooling

    Coolant flow reduction is an important design goal in the development of advanced turbine engines. Turbine engine designers routinely use film cooling to cool engine components in the hot-gas flowpaths. Film cooling is the process of injecting coolant fluid at one or more discrete locations along

  • AFRL Successfully Demonstrates Lightweight Modular Support Jammer

    AFRL engineers successfully demonstrated several support jamming techniques at the Naval Air Weapons Center, California. The lightweight modular support jammer (LMSJ) is a scalable-architecture, digitally controlled support jammer based upon digital common modules and highly integrated transmitters

  • AFRL Establishes AMIST for Focused Warhead Development

    AFRL and the Department of Energy's Kansas City Plant are collaborating to provide ordnance designers the initiation tools necessary for developing focused warheads, such as the dual-role munition. These advanced weapons will require an interdisciplinary technical solution that incorporates