The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Materiel Command facility under the control of the
Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Named for
General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force, AEDC is the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.
Headquartered at
Arnold Air Force Base,
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, the Complex also operates from geographically separated units at Ames Research Center, Mountain View and Edwards AFB, California; Peterson AFB, Colorado; Eglin AFB, Florida; the Federal Research Center at White Oak, Maryland; Holloman AFB, Kirtland AFB, and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Hill AFB, Utah. AEDC operates more than 68 test facilities, including, but not limited to, aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, sled tracks, centrifuges, and other specialized test units.
AEDC conducts developmental testing and evaluation through modeling, simulation, ground, and flight testing. Testing aims to evaluate aircraft, missile, and space systems/subsystems at the flight conditions they will experience during a mission. The complex aims to be the best value U.S. ground test and analysis source for aerospace and defense systems.
Staff agencies
* Test Division
** Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex
***
AEDC Sea Level Test Cells
***
Aero-propulsion Systems Test Facility
The Aero-propulsion Systems Test Facility, located at Arnold Engineering Development Complex is a unique national facility designed to test aircraft propulsion systems in true mission environments without leaving the ground. The test unit is ow ...
***
AEDC Engine Test Facility
** Propulsion Wind Tunnel Ground Test Complex
***
Propulsion Wind Tunnel Facility
***
Von Karman Gas Dynamics Facility
** Space and Missile Ground Test Complex
***
AEDC Space Chambers Test Facility
***
High-Enthalpy Arc Heated Facility
***
Aero-ballistic Range Facility
***
Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit
* Maintenance Division
** Support Asset Branch
** Test Asset Branch
* Mission Support Division
** Communications Branch
** Civil Engineer Branch
** Services
* Test Systems Division
** Technology Branch
** Investments Branch
** Management Operations
Environmental issues
Several areas of the facility are contaminated by substances including
polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorine compounds with the formula Carbon, C12Hydrogen, H10−''x''Chloride, Cl''x''; they were once widely used in the manufacture of carbonless copy paper, as heat transfer fluids, and as dielectri ...
s (PCBs) and
volatile organic compounds
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to house mold, upholstered furniture, arts and crafts sup ...
and spills of
jet and
rocket fuel
Rocket propellant is used as reaction mass ejected from a rocket engine to produce thrust. The energy required can either come from the propellants themselves, as with a chemical rocket, or from an external source, as with ion engines.
Overvi ...
,
chlorofluorocarbon
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly Halogenation, halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F). They are produced as volatility (chemistry), volat ...
solvents,
nitric acid
Nitric acid is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but samples tend to acquire a yellow cast over time due to decomposition into nitrogen oxide, oxides of nitrogen. Most com ...
and other materials. PCBs from the site have been detected in local creeks, in the water, sediment and in fish.
The site was proposed for addition to the
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
National Priorities List in August 1994 though, as of May 2010, the site has not been added to the NPL.
The
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations:
* Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia
* Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana)
* Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland)
* Environmenta ...
believes that human exposure to contaminants and contaminated groundwater migration are under control.
[
]
External facilities
* The Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 is located in Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...
* The National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) is located at NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...
, Moffett Field, California. The NFAC was closed by NASA in 2003. In February 2006, AEDC entered into an agreement with NASA to lease the facility for a period of up to 25 years.
* McKinley Climatic Laboratory, Eglin AFB, Florida
* 704th Test Group, Holloman Air Force Base. Colonel Karl Seekamp officially took command of the 704th Test Group at Holloman Air Force Base during a ceremony on 9 September 2022. Detachment 1 operates the National Radar Cross Section Test Facility. The group consists of three squadrons, including the 716th Test Squadron, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010.
* Other Testing Facilities at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and at Wright-Patterson AFB
History
The Air Engineering Development Center was authorized by an act of the 81st Congress, Public Law 415, approved 27 Oct. 1949 (Appendix 2).
On 7 March 1950, the Air Engineering Development Center was redesignated the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) effective 10 February 1950, per General Order #23, signed by then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Hoyt S. Vandenberg. Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) was later redesignated Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) on 6 July 2012.
The complex is a part of a master unitary wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
plan that is designated to provide the testing "tools" required to assure the United States continued air and space supremacy.
The necessity for an aeronautical test complex of this type was recognized by a number of different agencies of the government, as well as by expert technical groups from the industrial-scientific world. The creation of these research and testing facilities has enabled the U.S. to stay abreast of developments in this fast-moving field.
AEDC is one of the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world with a replacement value of more than $7.8 billion.
At one time or another, the center has operated 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges and other specialized units. Twenty-seven of the center's test units have capabilities unmatched elsewhere in the United States; 14 are unique in the world.
Facilities can simulate flight conditions from sea level to 300 miles' altitude and from subsonic velocities to Mach 14.
AEDC's mission is to:
* Test and evaluate aircraft, missile and space systems and subsystems at the flight conditions they will experience during a mission to help customers develop and qualify the systems for flight, improve system designs and establish performance before production. It also helps users troubleshoot problems with operational systems.
* Conduct a research and technology program to develop advanced testing techniques and instrumentation and to support the design of new test facilities. Continuous improvement helps satisfy testing needs and keeps pace with rapidly advancing aircraft, missile and space system requirements.
* Maintain and modernize the center's existing test facilities.
AEDC is an important national resource and has contributed to the development of practically every one of the nation's top priority aerospace programs, including better spacelift, aircraft, missiles and satellites. Many of these programs are highlighted in the following sections.
AEDC is an Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) organization managed by the Air Force but operated largely by a contractor work force. While AEDC's primary location is in Tennessee, it also operates two geographically separated facilities—the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in Maryland, and the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC), in California.
AEDC's economic impact to the local area for fiscal year 2008 exceeded $728 million. The total economic impact includes the center's payroll, secondary jobs created locally though the spending of that payroll, and other expenditures for supplies, utilities, fuel and services.
As a consultant to General Arnold, Theodore von Kármán
Theodore von Kármán ( , May 11, 1881May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing ...
first called for the center:
:In 1947 Stuart Symington
William Stuart Symington III ( ; June 26, 1901 – December 14, 1988) was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Missouri. He served as the first secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a United States senator from ...
became the first secretary of the newly independent Air Force, and he strove hard to bring into reality some of my proposals, particularly the new facilities for Air Force research which I had urged in the report.
:One of the main items was a new U.S. center for the study and development of jet propulsion, supersonic aircraft, and ballistic missiles, a center I hoped would be greater than any then known. The proposal had actually begun after Frank Wattendorf
Frank Wattendorf (1906 – 11 June 1986) was an American physicist specializing in wind tunnels for research in aerodynamics.
Wattendorf is recalled for his report on a wind tunnel that was under construction in Ötztal in Austria during World W ...
's 1945 visit to the huge wind tunnel at Ötztal, Austria, which was bigger and more powerful than any in the United States.Theodore von Kármán
Theodore von Kármán ( , May 11, 1881May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing ...
with Lee Edson (1967) ''The Wind and Beyond'', chapter 37: A New Air Force Emerges, pp 298 to 309
:Symington managed to round up sufficient support in Congress and to obtain the necessary funds, about 100 million dollars. The Air Force agreed to go ahead with the proposal to set up the center, and a committee was appointed which traveled around the country seeking a suitable site. One of the necessary requirements was a direct source of stored hydraulic power, as planned at Ötztal, to run the multi-thousand horsepower motors needed for the big wind tunnels.[
: Senator McKellar, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, adea clever offer. He said the state of Tennessee would give up Camp Forest, a 40,000-acre World War II camp near Tullahoma, if the Air Force would set up its huge center there. Congress was about to adjourn and it looked like nothing would get done for another year. The Air Force, being realistic, accepted the offer ... The Arnold Engineering Development Center (as it was finally named) was dedicated in Tullahoma by ]President Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th Vice president of the United States, vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Frank ...
in 1952.[
The center operates more than 68 ]aerodynamic
Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
and propulsion wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
s, rocket
A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
and turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...
engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, and other specialized units. Currently, AEDC's Test Operations and Sustainment contractor i
Beyond New Horizons
The center has helped to develop most aerospace systems in the U.S. government's inventory, including the Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets.
Atlases have traditio ...
, Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
, Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
s, the Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
, space station
A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...
, and Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
.
It is named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the US Air Force and an air power visionary. The University of Tennessee Space Institute
The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) is a satellite campus of the University of Tennessee located near Tullahoma, Tennessee.
UTSI was founded to allow students to take advantage of the aerospace facilities located in the Arnol ...
(UTSI) is located adjacent to AEDC.
The center lies near Manchester, Tennessee and Tullahoma, Tennessee
Tullahoma is a city in Coffee and Franklin counties in southern Middle Tennessee, United States. The population was 20,339 at the 2020 census. In 2019, the population was estimated to be 19,555. It is the principal city of the Tullahoma microp ...
, and occupies much of the site of the former Camp Forrest, a U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
base and World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
POW
POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.
POW or pow may also refer to:
Music
* P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...
camp. It is unique in that the majority of the workforce are contract personnel, with a small contingent of active-duty assigned.
"The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) started an organizational change process in 2015 to move some units within the AFTC from the 96th and 412th Test Wings over to the AEDC. The largest change asthe renumbering of the 96th Test Group as the 704th Test Group at Holloman AFB
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, which is the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The ba ...
, NM. AEDC ..also ainedthe McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin AFB, FL, and the Hypersonic Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, CA." The changes took effect on 1 December 2016. It was planned to align "..most of the Air Force’s developmental ground test facilities under one commander, better fiscal synergy, especially in restoration and modernization funds, better balance in the span of control, and finally results in developmental opportunities for AFTC officers."
Lineage
* Constituted as the Air Engineering Development Division on 27 October 1949 by the 81st Congress, Public Law 415.
: Redesignated Arnold Engineering Development Center on 7 March 1950 effective 10 February 1950, per General Order #23, signed by then Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Hoyt S. Vandenburg.
: Redesignated Arnold Engineering Development Complex on 6 July 2012
Assignments
* 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 ...
: 7 March 1950
* Air Research and Development Command (later Air Force Systems Command), 1 May 1951
* Air Force Materiel Command
The Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). AFMC was created on July 1, 1992, through the amalgamation of the former Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and the former Air Force System ...
, 1 July 1992 (attached to Air Force Test Center after 6 July 2012)
* Air Force Test Center, 1 October 2012
Stations
* Arnold Air Force Station (later Arnold Air Force Base), 25 June 1951 – present
Components
* 704th Maintenance Group, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010
* 704th Mission Support Group, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010
* 704th Test Group, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010 (Arnold AFB); 1 December 2016 - onwards (Holloman AFB, NM)704th Test Group (AFMC)
/ref>
* 704th Test Systems Group, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010
* 6560th Air Base Squadron (later 4960th Air Base Squadron, 4960th Air Base Group, 656th Support Squadron, 656th Air Base Squadron), 8 May 1951 – c. 1997
References
Beyond the Speed of Sound - The history of Arnold Engineering Development Complex
Bibliography
External links
Arnold Air Force Base
(official)
University of Tennessee Space Institute
{{Coord, 35.379, -86.050, scale:2000, display=title
Centers of the United States Air Force
Buildings and structures in Coffee County, Tennessee
Military units and formations established in 1950
Military Superfund sites
Aeronautics organizations
Buildings and structures in Franklin County, Tennessee
Superfund sites in Tennessee