Testing a Jet Engine in a Wind Tunnel?: The Air Force has wrapped up a recent series of successful Joint Strike Fighter aerodynamic tests at Arnold Engineering Development Center’s 16-foot transonic wind tunnel. Officials at the Arnold AFB, Tenn., facility say the tests—set up within two weeks—proved the center’s ability to adapt the wind tunnel for propulsion technologies. It marked the first time that automated data quality checks were performed in near-real time in the tunnel. The AEDC team worked with Lockheed Martin team members, along with Naval Air Systems to process 25,000 data points acquired in seven days, with 50 billion samples of data screened in near-real-time.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
