12 Things You May Not Know about AFRL

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has for the past 100 years historically impacted the Air Force’s goal of being the world’s best fighting force. In recognition of the upcoming 75th Anniversary of the Air Force, the below list highlights some of AFRL’s achievements, following in line with the Air Force’s mission statement of “fly, fight, and win.…airpower anytime, anywhere.”

1. Pressure: For a century, the pioneering research of the United States Air Force has made high-altitude air travel safe and comfortable. The research conducted at Wright Field led to many developments. One of them is the first operational bomber with a pressurized cabin, the B-29 crew; the pressurized cabin created for the B-29 crew is in modern airliners allowing for sustainable long-term travel.

2. Speed: When designing the X-1, AFRL engineers focused on modeling it after the 50-caliber bullet because of its stability at supersonic speeds. This combination of stable body shape, thin wings, a powerful engine, and an all-moving tail allowed it to move faster than the speed of sound.

3. Spectrum: Air Force electromagnetic research began with the establishment of McCook Field, utilizing the first aerial cameras and airborne radio equipment. AFRL also created the targeting, tracking, and focusing system in the Demonstrator Laser Weapon System (DLWS), tracking and defeating targets such as ground vehicles, rockets, mortars, and missiles.

4. Sense: Air Force engineers at McCook Field and Wright Field, took on the task of sensing and communicating with the aircraft, and its environment. Developing instruments inside the plane that still hold the standard today allows pilots insight into their machines, nearby aircraft, and allies on the ground.

5. Precision: Due to the lack of accurate bombs faced by bombers in WWII and the Vietnam War, civilian casualties were unavoidable. Research conducted by AFRL’s predecessor lead to development of the first laser-guided bomb allowing for more precise ammunition and fewer losses.

6. Thrust: The twisted airfoil propeller designed by the Wright Brothers was the building block for all modern propellers. The U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Navy conducted their propeller testing at Wright Field. In May 1917, the U.S. commissioned an engine that would rival the world’s best-known as the “Liberty Engine” causing a whirlwind of engine development, including a supercharged version of the “Liberty Engine.”

7. Speed 2: In 1954, the X-15 was a project conducted through a combined effort between the U.S. Air Force, NACA, and the U.S. Navy to continue to study hypersonic and space flight. Wright Air Development Center, an AFRL predecessor, would focus on the early stages of the development. While the NACA concentrated on the later stages, the U.S. Navy served as a junior partner in this process.

8. Calculate: The AFRL has a long history of helping engineer many technological advancements we still use today. In 1958, Jack Kilby demonstrated the first functional integrated circuit (IC) using funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The IC was in the Minutemen and Apollo Space Mission’s guidance computers.

9. Labs: In October 1997, the 80th Anniversary of the founding of McCook Field, the Air Force combined its four super labs (Wright, Phillips, Rome, and Armstrong) to become the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

10. Speed 3: Due to the research developed on the X-30, two projects came from this effort. The first was “High Tech,” an AFRL program that produced a functional ground testable scramjet engine for flight above Mach 5. The second is “Hyper-X,” a NASA project that was the first vehicle to be propelled by a scramjet engine.

11. Materials: When thinking of the point of the spear, materials are what make it possible. One of the ways researchers approach current problems is through AI; and robot researchers. Autonomous Researcher System (ARES) can conduct experiments, review results, send the data off to an artificial module and create potential outcomes of what experiments to perform next. This product will be able to improve not only materials but the entire research process.

12. Performance: The high volume of crashes occurring during early aviation due to the extreme stressors pilots faced created a need for research and helped develop standards for flight surgeons. Today, the 711th Human Performance Wing is the center of AFRL’s research activities related to Human Performance.