Engineers at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee have spent six years participating in F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development and testing, states an AEDC news release. The center has logged about 10,000 hours on the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine and wind tunnel model testing. AEDC spent $17 million to upgrade its facilities primarily to accommodate testing for the new F135 engine because “it’s an evolution in the art of aircraft engines—more airflow, more thrust, go-faster type of things,” explained Jeff Albro, AEDC F135 program manager. The center has tested all three variants—conventional takeoff and landing, short takeoff and landing, and carrier version—each with different flight characteristics.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
