AFRL dedicates new FIRST lab facility

  • Published
  • By Holly Jordan
  • AFRL Air Vehicles Directorate
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Air Force Research Laboratory commander Maj. Gen. Curtis M. Bedke cut the ribbon here Nov. 19 on the Facility for Innovative Research in Structures Technology (FIRST), a $3 million in-house experimental validation facility in Building 65. 

FIRST brings together the existing AFRL Advanced Structural Concepts Lab facilities, combining them into one centralized, modern lab located wholly within Building 65. Research has already begun in the facility, and it is expected to be completely operational by January 2009. 

MajGen Bedke spoke to the crowd about the history of research that has taken place in Building 65 facilities, saying, "I'm really glad that we're taking this building that's got so much history and...continuing the history. We're adding on to it."

Also speaking at the event was AFRL Air Vehicles Materiel Group Director and AFRL Wright-Site Commander, Col. John Wissler.

Col Wissler called the FIRST lab a "leap forward" for the Air Vehicles Directorate.

"It strengthens the in-house research that is the basis of the technologies of tomorrow. From the smallest ideas grow tremendous breakthroughs, and this facility will be the incubator for those ideas." he said.

Some of the many technologies that will be advanced in the FIRST lab include Structural Health Monitoring, Multifunctional Structures, and Thermal Structures, among others.

According to FIRST facility manager Chet Brewster, the technologies developed in the FIRST lab are vital to the existing aircraft fleet as well as aerospace vehicles of the future. 

The new FIRST lab updates the AFRL structural experimentation facilities with a standardized infrastructure that allows each individual lab area to be moved around interchangeably if necessary. Interchangability makes it easy for researchers to work collaboratively and to keep projects up and running if problems occur, Brewster said.

Designers of the facility took into account not only functionality, but aesthetics as well. The architectural design of the lab reflects elements of Building 65, a facility that has been used for over 60 years to advance technologies from early bombers to space vehicle structures.

According to Brewster, the facility will help advance the collaborative spirit within AFRL and will give researchers the environment they need to explore new ideas.

"We are tremendously proud of this facility and all that it means to AFRL. The research conducted here will help keep us at the forefront of air vehicle technology," Brewster said.