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  • EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A 65-foot, 72,000-pound booster rocket mockup exits the cargo bay of a C-17 Globemaster III July 26. The airdrop was the final test in Phase 2B of the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle program, a joint venture between the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency and the Air Force to develop a more flexible, low-cost method of launching a satellite into low earth orbit. The mockup is the longest and heaviest single object ever dropped from a C-17. (Air Force photo by Steve Zapka)

    C-17 performs final drop in Falcon SLV test phase

    Sometimes, test programs have added benefits on top of the intended goal, as was the case when testers here completed the third and final test in phase 2B of the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle program July 26. The Falcon SLV program is a joint effort between the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Airlaunch LLC and other private

  • Hill Airmen put life-saving training to use

    Lt. Col. Chris Luedtke, 75th Mission Support Group deputy commander, was walking to his gate at the Philadelphia International Airport when he heard a commotion nearby. He heard that somebody was in trouble, so he went over to see what was happening. "Nobody seemed to know what to do, so I took charge," Colonel Luedtke said. The man appeared to

  • Five personnel centers scheduled for realignment

    In an effort to provide and deliver services in the most effective and efficient way for the Air Force, military officials plan to realign about 170 civilian personnel positions to the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. From the 170 positions, 135 are slated to realign from Air Force Materiel Command's four Interim
  • WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Air Force Materiel Command executive director Barbara A. Westgate, a lieutenant general equivalent, pins the rank of colonel onto her husband, Lt. Col. Charles J. Westgate III, in what is believed to be the only such promotion of its kind to date in the Air Force. (Air Force photo by Michael Libecap)

    AFMC executive director officiates husband's promotion

    She's the third highest-ranking person and most senior civilian in Air Force Materiel Command. She estimates having officiated more than 100 civilian and military promotion ceremonies, including about two dozen to the rank of colonel. However, none have been quite like the promotion she officiated July 28. That was the day Barbara A. Westgate, AFMC

  • Global Hawk in demand, passes 10,000 flight hours milestone

    The Global Hawk unmanned aerial system continues to prove its utility and effectiveness in the global war on terror, having flown more than 10,500 flight hours by late July. The Global Hawk achieved 10,000 flight hours in June, with its ratio of combat flying hours to non-combat hours increasing to 63 percent of total flight hours. Managed by the

  • Thermal barrier coatings research could extend jet engine life

    A team of Princeton University scientists and engineers, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research here, are paving the way for the development of new and improved thermal barrier coatings (TBC) that could increase the lifetime of jet engines. To make their predictions, the team developed and used state-of-the-art computer simulation

  • Nanorice research to focus light on small regions in space

    Using funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research here, a team of engineers, physicists and chemists from Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) have successfully created 'nanorice,' which will be used to focus light on small regions in space. Findings on this nanorice research were recently presented by principal

  • Command/Union Partnership Council assesses initiatives

    Leading his first annual Joint National Labor-Management Meeting, Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander, Air Force Materiel Command, made clear in his opening remarks the value he places on the command's relationship with the American Federation of Government Employees Council 214. "This is a command of nearly 80,000 people," he said. "Seventy percent of

  • AFMC executive director, union reps visit General Electric

    When a General Electric employee at Evendale, Ohio, arrives at work, he or she can hop on a golf cart, navigate through a seven-million square foot facility marked with compasses at every intersection, catch up on the latest news from one of more than 60 super-sized flat screen TVs, and arrive at a workstation complete with an adjustable table that
  • EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Benefield Anechoic Facility houses the next-generation Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aerial vehicle July 17 during a two week mitigation treatment test on the aircraft's fuselage. (Air Force photo by Chad Bellay)

    Team tests EMI treatments on next generation Global Hawk

    Northrop-Grumman engineers, in conjunction with the 452nd Flight Test Squadron, recently teamed up with the 412th Electronics Warfare Group in the Benefield Anechoic Facility to verify the effectiveness of production level electromagnetic interference mitigation treatments installed on the Global Hawk RQ-4, Block 30, unmanned aerial vehicle. The
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