Aviation facilities in CA

Aerospace Ground Equipment Complex

Edwards AFB, CA

The Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) Flight provides pickup, delivery, repair, modification, inspection, and servicing of powered and nonpowered Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) valued at over $24.5 million. The flight performs service inspections, Time Compliance Technical Orders (TCTO), minor and major maintenance for base assigned aircraft, transient alert, tenant units, special projects, and contractor equipment as contractually agreed.

Air Data Calibration Facility

Edwards AFB, CA

This facility is for low altitude subsonic altimeter system calibrations of air vehicles. Mission is a direct support of the AFFTC mission. Postflight data merge is used to provide corrections to air data systems. The 35-foot tower uses a surveyed altitude grid to determine actual altitude to within 10-feet. A computer is installed to provide real-time weather data Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (IRIG) time and visual altitude transcriptions. A UHF/VHF radio is also installed for test communications. The lakebed run-in provides for a stable air mass increasing the accuracy of the calibration.

Aircraft Modifications

Edwards AFB, CA

On many projects to maintain low cost and responsive aircraft modifications, the instrumentation team will provide T-2 modification support directly. In other cases, especially those requiring significant development in terms of cost or schedule, the modification management will be provided by the modification management section of the Instrumentation Division. In either case the lead operations engineer provides a single point of contact for the customer to monitor modification status and to resolve any issues relative to the requirements.

Aviation Facilities Development and Engineering

Port Hueneme, CA

Avionics Test & Integration Complex

Edwards AFB, CA

The division is comprised of three collocated core facilities and a remote operating location with capabilities that can operate independently or linked to satisfy specific customer requirements. These test facilities contribute to five of the six steps in the Air Force Test Process.

Edwards Flight Test Range

Edwards AFB, CA

The 412th Test Wing operates and maintains the Edward's Flight Test Range (EFTR) complex. The EFTR is a major range resource consisting of multi-environmental test areas, instrumentation, and airborne capability needed for developmental test and evaluation (DT&E;) and operational test and evaluation (OT&E;). Low and high altitude supersonic flight profiles can be accommodated over land and water ranges from surface to unlimited altitude. Highly instrumented land test areas, along with access to overwater areas provide for full aircraft/avionics/weapon integration and subsystem testing. Range capabilities include radar, telemetry, radio, television, and timing instrumentation. These elements are controlled from Ridley Mission Control Center (RMCC) and can be modified and adjusted to meet test requirements. The EFTR encompasses some 1575 square statute miles of restricted airspace designated R-2515. Contained within R-2515 are two range areas designated Precision Impact Range Areas (PIRAs). The PIRA was established for the conduct of air-to-ground gunnery, precision bombing (PB) tests, photo resolution, spin testing, aerial decelerator tests, and other tests requiring precision instrumentation. The range is located in the southeast portion of the Edward's reservation and covers approximately 75 square miles. Supersonic approaches to the PIRA below 15,000-feet MSL are restricted to the Alpha Corridor (west to east) only. The PIRA is subdivided into the West Range, the East Range and the PB-6 Range. Each range can be scheduled individually, or in conjunction with one another, dependent upon mission requirements.

Flight Test and Open Air Ranges

Edwards AFB, CA

The Air Force Flight Test Center's airborne testbeds range from small aircraft with pod-mounted components or systems to large aircraft designed for spread-bench installation and testing of electronic warfare components, subsystems, systems, or functions of avionic suites in early development and modification – often before the availability of prototype or production hardware.

Ground Vibration Test/Structures Laboratory

Edwards AFB, CA

The GVT system is designed to perform GVT's on fighter-sized aircraft, modifications, and troubleshooting of aircraft structural problems. Although designed for small aircraft, can be used on all aircraft in the Air Force inventory. The system is a multichannel excitation system capable of four simultaneous excitation points and 1,286 response channels taken in banks of up to 51 channels. Both excitation and response are driven by Hewlett-Packard (HP) 9000 Series 380 workstation utilizing either HP's VISTA Modal Test Acquisition or Structural Dynamics Research Corporation's (SDRC) data acquisition software.

Instrumented Refueling Test Tankers

Edwards AFB, CA

This capability allows the Air Force to certify any DoD aircraft for Boom/Receptacle and Probe/Drogue inflight refueling behind Air Force KC-135 tankers. A instrumentation pallet is maintained at Edwards Air Force Base for rapid installation on a modified KC-10A aircraft possessed by AMC for certification testing behind KC-10 aircraft. This capability has been used by multiple services and foreign countries.

Integration Facility for Avionic Systems Testing

Edwards AFB, CA

Orders of magnitude of cost reductions are achieved in comparison to flight test and and many ground tests can be accomplished that otherwise would be unsafe or impractical to achieve in flight. The ultimate purpose of the integrated ground and flight test approach supported by the IFAST, is avionics performance risk reduction and cost-effective ground test capabilities, for a systematic approach toward the development of operational flight test programs and advanced avionics hardware.

Test Instrumentation

Edwards AFB, CA

Our mission is to provide the truth in test data used for the test and evaluation of aircraft at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC). This requires us to be the center of expertise for instrumentation, including aircraft modifications. We provide the evaluators with the knowledge, understanding and support of the instrumentation providing the data, so an unbiased evaluation can be made of the vehicles being tested.