The Arnold Engineering Development Center at Arnold AFB, Tenn., has just launched a YouTube channel showcasing videos of its work in testing various Air Force propulsion systems, aircraft designs, air vehicles, and NASA rockets in wind tunnels and static firing chambers. (Click here; please note, AEDC says the channel is not accessible from .mil computers.) This is one of the Air Force’s many initiatives to communicate its mission and highlight its activities through so-called social media Web sites. So far, AEDC says a video showing a scaled F-35 strike fighter model in the wind tunnel is the most popular clip. (Arnold report by Joel Fortner)
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…