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The 417th Flight Test Squadron is an active
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
squadron. It is assigned to the 96th Operations Group at
Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...
, Florida, where it was reactivated on 17 April 2019. The squadron was first activated in 1989 as the 6517th Test Squadron and conducted flight testing of the McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III until it was inactivated in 1995 as the 417th Test Squadron. It was reactivated in 2006 and performed ground and flight testing on the Boeing YAL-1A until 2010, before that program was cancelled.


History


C-17 Globemaster III testing

Established in 1989 as the 6517th Test Squadron to perform flight testing on the new McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III airlifter which was developed by McDonnell Douglas to replace the aging
Lockheed C-141 Starlifter The Lockheed C-141 Starlifter is a retired military strategic airlifter that served with the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), its successor organization the Military Airlift Command (MAC), and finally the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the ...
. The squadron received its first YC-17A (T-1) in late 1991 (87-25). Five more C-17A production models (88-265, 88-266 (P-1, P-2, LotI)), (89-1189 - 89-1192 (Lot II, P-3, P-4, P-5)) participated in extensive flight testing and evaluation. Testing was completed and the first production model was delivered to the
437th Airlift Wing The 437th Airlift Wing (437 AW) is an active unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to 18th Air Force, Air Mobility Command. It is the mission wing at Charleston Air Force Base, Joint Base Charleston, in the City of North Charleston, ...
,
Charleston Air Force Base Charleston Air Force Base is a United States military facility located in the City of North Charleston, South Carolina. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force's 628th Air Base Wing (628 ABW), a subordinate elem ...
, South Carolina on 14 July 1993.Norton,Air Force Serial Number Search, C-17 Globemaster III
/ref> The first C-17 squadron was operational ( 17th Airlift Squadron) in January 1995. The squadron was inactivated on 1 October and C-17 support was transferred to the 418th Flight Test Squadron.


YAL-1A Airborne Laser testing

It was reactivated in March 2006 for flight testing on Boeing YAL-1A Airborne Laser aircraft (ABL). The ABL was an airborne-directed energy weapon system. The YAL-1A is a prototype that employs a highly modified Boeing 747-400 airframe equipped with sensors, lasers and sophisticated optics to find, track and destroy ballistic missiles in their boost, or ascent, phase. In February 2007, the ABL began a series of flight tests, which included the first in-flight firing of the TILL targeting laser at a simulated target, in March 2007. This was followed by flight tests of the BILL illuminating laser and tests of TILL, BILL and a surrogate high-energy laser (SHEL) low-power laser. Installation of the six COIL laser modules was completed in February 2008. The first firing ('first light') of the COIL laser took place in September 2008. The test lasted less than a second and was followed by further ground tests of increased duration and power. In November 2008, the COIL laser was fired and focused through the beam control / fire control system. A high energy laser aboard the aircraft was successfully fired from
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
in August 2009. The YAL 1A laser travels at the speed of light to destroy ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. In January 2010, the high energy laser was fired to intercept a test Missile Alternative Range Target Instrument (MARTI). In February 2010, the US MDA and Boeing jointly tested the speed, precision and breakthrough potential of directed energy weapons deployed in the ABL test bed. In 2010, the ALTB successfully knocked a "threat representative" missile out of flight from a distance of 50 miles. This resulted in the program receiving an additional $40 million in funding even though the Secretary of Defense himself admitted it was not realistic. However, in that same year the device failed two tests in a row. In 2011 funding was eliminated as the program was eight years behind schedule and it had a staggeringly large budget of $500 million per year. The program was terminated due to budget reductions on 14 February 2012. The YAL-1A Airborne Laser Test Bed aircraft was ferried to
Davis Monthan Air Force Base Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Station, an Australian base and research outpost in the Vestfold Hills * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Sask ...
, Arizona where it was placed in storage at the Air Force's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.


Lineage

* Designated as the 6517th Test Squadron and activated on 10 March 1989 : Redesignated 417th Test Squadron on 2 October 1992 : Redesignated 417th Flight Test Squadron on 1 March 1994 : Inactivated on 1 October 1995 * Activated on 16 March 2006 : Inactivated on 30 June 2010 * Activated 24 April 2019


Assignments

* 6510th Test Wing (later 412th Test Wing), 10 March 1989 * 412th Operations Group, 1 October 1993 – 1 October 1995 * 412th Operations Group, 16 March 2006 – 30 June 2010 * 96th Operations Group, 24 April 2019 – present


Stations

* Edwards Air Force Base, California, 10 March 1989 – 1 October 1995 * Edwards Air Force Base, California, 16 March 2006 – 30 June 2010 * Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 24 April 2019 – present


Aircraft

* McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, 1989-1995 * Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser, 2006-2012 * Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules (All variants) 2019–present


See also

* List of United States Air Force test squadrons


References


Notes

; Explanatory Notes ; Citations


Bibliography

*


External links

{{USAF Air Force Materiel Command Flight test squadrons of the United States Air Force