The Air Force and NASA announced earlier this month that they intend to establish national hypersonic science centers at Texas A&M University in College Station, Tex., the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC in Thousand Oaks, Calif. These three centers are meant to advance the nation’s understanding of flight for aircraft capable of traveling at speeds of Mach 5 or faster. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate will each contribute up to $15 million over the next five years to fund the centers. Texas A&M is designated the National Center for Hypersonic Laminar-Turbulent Transition, and will specialize in the boundary layer control research. UVA will host the National Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion, and will lead research in air-breathing propulsion. (UVA press release) And, Teledyne will be site of the National Hypersonic Science Center for Hypersonic Materials and Structures. AFOSR and NASA announced their intent last fall to establish the three centers; they said they chose the winning sites from among 60 candidate locations.
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.