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.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
