The US Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) has been tasked to re-open the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) located on NASA's Ames Research Center near San Francisco to maintain a critical national aerodynamic test capability used primarily for rotorcraft.

The NFAC was built in 1944 to support research in aerodynamics, structural dynamics and acoustics. Investigations, using critical components (especially rotor blades) and, on occasion, full-size aircraft, focus on the aerodynamic characteristics of new configurations with an emphasis on validating design estimates. The NFAC has two test sections. One is a 40-foot high by 80-foot wide test section capable of obtaining velocities up to 240 knots and the other is an 80-foot wide by 120-foot high test section capable of obtaining velocities up to 100 knots. NASA closed the NFAC in 2003 because its use had significantly declined over the last 10 years.

Congressional authorization to begin reactivation of the facility is anticipated in summer 2005 with the first operational capability approximately 11 months later. Significant work will be required to install a functional instrumentation system and document both procedures and configurations to insure safe, reliable and effective operations. The anticipated majority customer for NFAC will be the U.S. Army, as it was when the facility was open under NASA management.

Under the terms of a proposed lease agreement, NASA will retain ownership of the facility while AEDC operates and maintains the NFAC with NASA providing general support services such as fire protection, security, custodial services, etc. Work to reopen NFAC won't start until the lease agreement is satisfactory to both NASA and the Air Force.

AEDC will operate the facility as a separate detachment, reporting directly to the center's commander. The center has been successful operating its Hypervelocity Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md., under the same arrangement for the last decade.

AEDC is the nation's largest complex of flight simulation test facilities. The center was dedicated in June 1951 by President Harry Truman and named after 5-star General of the Air Force Henry 'Hap' Arnold, visionary leader of the Army Air Forces in World War II and the only airman to hold 5-Star rank. Today, this $7.8 billion complex has some 58 aerospace test facilities. The test facilities simulate flight from subsonic to hypersonic speeds at altitudes from sea level to space. Almost every high performance aircraft used by the Department of Defense today, all NASA manned spacecraft and many commercial aircraft have been tested in AEDC's facilities. Today the center is testing the next generation of aircraft and space systems.

FMI: www.arnold.af.mil