The Arnold Engineering Development Center’s Tunnel 9 facility in White Oak, Md., recently completed the mission-critical testing of the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 1—a joint Air Force and DARPA program that is developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology. The capability envisioned involves a reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle capable of delivering 12,000 pounds of payload up to 9,000 nautical miles in less than two hours. AEDC engineers completed more than 30 successful runs with the HTV-1 model, simulating speeds of Mach 10 and 14.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.