Team members at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex recently completed a successful test of a Pratt & Whitney F135 conventional takeoff and landing/carrier variant (CTOL/CV) engine at Arnold AFB, Tenn. “One reason this test was significant is that it was the first 2,600 [Total Accumulated Cycle count] Accelerated Mission Test on the F135 engine at AEDC,” said John Kelly, AEDC F135 test manager, in a release. “Previously these AMTs have been done at the Pratt & Whitney facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.” The test, which achieved a record test time efficiency of 98 percent, “provided integrated aircraft thermal load simulation, as well as led to the re-activation of special test equipment for the F135 that hasn’t been used in several years,” according to an AEDC release. Crews worked 24-hour operations over five days a week, with some six-day weeks as well, states the release. Concurrent operations on an F119 engine were still being conducted for 16- to 18-hours per day while the F101 engine was also being tested around-the-clock.
The Space Force relies entirely on data—but it lacks the systems and tools to analyze and share that data properly even within the service, let alone with international partners, officials said May 1.