Four Collaborative Small Diameter Bombs (CSDBs) hang from the wing of an F-16 fighter from the Air Force Test Center’s 96th Test Wing at Eglin AFB. Two of the bombs were dropped during the first flight demonstration of the Air Force Golden Horde Vanguard. (Courtesy photo)

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft has been operating since its launch in June 2019, conducting unique studies into the interactions of radio waves, space plasma and the radiation belts in near-Earth space.

“AFWERX Accelerate was a big week with Agility Prime having a ground-breaking ceremony for a simulation facility to allow experimentation from the researcher to the operator in the field,” said Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., Commander of Air Force Materiel Command.

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II fly in formation with the XQ-58A Valkyrie low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle over the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground testing range, Ariz., during a series of tests Dec. 9, 2020. This integrated test follows a series of gatewayONE ground tests that began last year in December.

In support of the United States Space Force’s (USSF) long-term goals and science research in space, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFRL/AFOSR) held the Director’s Space Challenge, a competition for one-year grants to fund bold, high-risk, high-reward basic science proposals with significant potential to positively impact future military operations in space.

The Supersonic Rain Erosion Test Rig (SuRE) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is experiencing a full control system replacement and upgrade to provide pinpoint control and unmatched testing value.The SuRE is used in the evaluation of structures and coatings under the effects of high speed flight through rain for transonic and supersonic speeds up to Mach 2.3.

NASA and SpaceX launched the Crew Dragon Spaceship on Nov. 15, 2020, and two Astronauts recently trained at the Air Force Research Laboratory's centrifuge at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The centrifuge is the only human-rated centrifuge owned by the Department of Defense. Aircrews come here from all over the DoD, as well as from NASA and from allied nations, for aircrew acceleration training as well as research and testing.

Director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, Col. Eric Felt (left) and Benjamin Urioste, research engineer, prepare to break the satellite piñata, following the ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the directorate’s Deployable Structures Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Oct. 29, 2020.