Air Force Materiel Command has opened at Edwards AFB, Calif., a range mission control room built specifically to monitors tests of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35 Integrated Test Force, comprising military, government civilian, contractor, and foreign partner personnel, are conducting testing of the F-35 and will have about 40 flight test engineers manning the control room. SrA. Jason Hernandez reports that the new control room is unique because it is “entirely personal-computer based.” The 412th Range Control Squadron, which maintains and operates all the Edwards control rooms, decided that existing control rooms simply didn’t have enough capacity to incorporate JSF testing.
The Air Force has embraced new technical approaches like open mission systems and rapid software updates for cutting-edge aircraft like the B-21 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Increasingly, though, the service is also working to apply these to its older, “legacy” aircraft, officials said this week.