The innovative engineers and technicians at Arnold Engineering and Development Center in Tennessee developed a High Speed Fan Facility to verify the viability of the Towed Airborne Plume Simulator to test early warning sensors on military aircraft. TAPS will be carried aloft, towed behind an aircraft, but first USAF wanted to test it on the ground. AEDC journalist Philip Lorenz III reports that the center used off-the-shelf components and cannibalized ducting to construct a temporary HSFF to test TAPS on the ground.
Lockheed Martin’s proposed autonomous drone, called Vectis, is still on track to fly a prototype by the end of 2027, an official from the company’s Skunk Works division said Sept. 10, and the firm already started work on four more Vectis aircraft.
