By Jill PickettAEDC Public Affairs

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. –The 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., a unit of Ar-nold Engineering Development Complex, is helping forge new flight test opportunities with a test conducted in September.

“They coordinated a never-be-fore-done test using relationships that never existed before – the 49th Wing and AFTC (Air Force Test Center) flying together on a test,” said Tom Hill, technical director for the 586th Flight Test Squadron. “Also, they are pav-ing the way for future 49th Wing experiments by using AFFTRAC (Automated Find, Fix and Track) as an example to showcase how they could do these things for their own purposes.”

AFFTRAC will bring togeth-er the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot

School, the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), the 49th WG, the 586th FLTS and the 54th Fighter Group.

The flight test is an example of DevOps, or development and op-erations, which helps bridge de-velopmental test and operational

test. DevOps can address tensions between “technology push” and “requirements pull.”

“When a technology like AF-FTRAC moves from the white-board to computer simulations to flight test, it’s very exciting because the concept holds great

promise,” said Maj. Mike Byrnes, assistant deputy of operations for Test/Training Range Integra-tion, 54th Operations Support Squadron. “But, because it’s new, nobody on the operations side knows to ask for it.”

Byrnes credited Hill with in-

spiring the pursuit of DevOps ex-perimentation.

This DevOps experiment will place the AFFTRAC flight test within a simulated air war, creat-ing a material test inside a Tactics, Development and Evaluation event. The aircraft carrying AF-FTRAC will represent a future weapon system to the fighter pi-lots playing the adversary in the exercise. The friendly forces in exercise will attempt to keep the test aircraft from being engaged.

“We were less interested in whether or not the test aircraft, standing in for a future expendable system, survived the simulated air battle and more interested in how many times it was destroyed and how the presence of the new asset changed friendly force and enemy behaviors in battle,” Byrnes said. “We’re linking the ways the tech-nology designers envision their

By Bradley HicksAEDC Public Affairs

For a time, those at Arnold Air Force Base responsible for engi-neering analysis and computer operations were spread far and wide across the installation.

They either worked out of one of the dozens of “fish camp” trail-ers, as they were then described, set up across the base or occu-pied available space in buildings throughout Arnold.

Eventually, however, work would begin to bring these groups together under one roof.

The result of this effort – the structure now known as the Car-roll Building – has for the past 30 years provided Arnold AFB with a centralized location for engi-neering analysis and computer operations.

The official completion of what was initially known as the

Engineering Analysis Facility, or EAF, was marked with a “ribbon” cutting ceremony on Nov. 29, 1990. Rather than a traditional ribbon, a large computer printout bearing the name of the facility was snipped during the celebra-tion.

Construction on the EAF be-gan in March 1988. The $14.7 million, 126,000 square foot, three-story complex was built to provide office space for 600 oper-ating contractor personnel.

The opening helped empty more than 30 trailers located across Arnold AFB and opened up office workspace in 10 other buildings on base.

On June 21, 1991, Gen. Ron-ald W. Yates, commander of the then-active Air Force Systems Command, was present at Arnold to dedicate the EAF in the name

Arnold AFB, Tenn. November 2, 2020Vol. 67, No. 21

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE PAIDTULLAHOMA TNPERMIT NO. 29

Technical Advisory Board meeting held to discuss efforts and opportunities at Arnold AFB

…Page 2 …Page 3

AEDC Turkey Trot returns to offer respite in a

COVID-19 world

Flu shots administered at Arnold AFB

…Page 9

586th FLTS supporting Test Pilot School, advancement of flight testing

Upgrades bring the AEDC 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel nozzle back to life

By Deidre MoonAEDC Public Affairs

A $13 million dollar project to upgrade the nozzle drive mo-tors for the Arnold Engineering Development Complex 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel, or 16S, at Arnold Air Force Base is com-plete as of early October.

While the last customer test in 16S was completed in 1997, a new investment of $60 million dollars is expected to relaunch the tunnel as an active testbed this winter after four years of res-toration and modernization.

“One of the key efforts to making this happen is success-fully completing the nozzle drive motor installation,” said Tyler McCamey, Future Capabilities Program manager for 16S proj-ects. “The nozzle is one of the main features needed to operate any wind tunnel test facility.”

The contract to upgrade the nozzle was awarded in Janu-ary of 2018, and members of the Propulsion Wind Tunnel, or PWT, team at Arnold are now able to finally close this chapter.

“A total of 108 new motors had to be installed on 108 jacks that move the flex nozzle,” said Will Layne, PWT electrical sys-tem engineer. “That’s 54 motors on each side – 27 motors on the top jacks and 27 motors on the bottom jacks. The checkout pro-cess has been complicated.”

Davy Ruehling, PWT instru-mentation, data and controls en-gineer, agreed that this project has at times proved difficult.

“A lot of the equipment we’re working with is what drove the original motors that were installed in the late 1950s,” Ruehling said. “While they for-

Arnold AFB Carroll Building hits the big 3-0

See WIND TUNNEL, page 3

See TEST PILOT, page 4

Kirk Boykin, an electrical systems engineer, left, and Davy Ruehling, an instrumentation, data and controls engineer, work in the control room of the Arnold Engineering Development Com-plex 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel Sept. 25 at Arnold Air Force Base in preparation for check-ing out the nozzle for the test cell. The 16S nozzle was last active in 1997. (U.S. Air Force photo by Deidre Moon)

The 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., a unit of Arnold Engineer-ing Development Complex, supported the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School Test Management Project AFFTRAC (Automated Find, Fix and Track) with a C-12J Huron with a Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod, such as the aircraft pictured, during testing in September. (Courtesy photo)

The Carroll Building at Arnold Air Force Base, pictured here Oct. 9, officially opened 30 years ago this month. The facility was constructed to provide a centralized location for engineering analysis and computer operations personnel at Arnold. The building is named for Maj. Gen. Franklin O. Car-roll II, the first commander of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, which is headquartered at Arnold AFB. (U.S. Air Force photo by Bradley Hicks)See CARROLL, page 4

2 • November 2, 2020

By Bradley HicksAEDC Public Affairs

Despite the current chaotic times, an Arnold Engineering De-velopment Complex tradition lives on.

The 35th annual AEDC Tur-key Trot 5K Fun Run at Arnold Air Force Base will take place this year on Nov. 13 beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the Arnold Lakeside Complex, or ALC. The Company Grade Officers’ Council at Arnold is once again hosting the event.

Registration for the race will be Nov. 4-6 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Café 100. Those interested can also email CGOCTurkeyTrot@gmail.com by Nov. 6 to register.

The Turkey Trot is open to military personnel, Department of Defense civilians, contractors and their families in accordance with company policy and supervisor approval. Runners of all ages and skill levels are invited to take part.

Those looking to take things a little slower can opt to participate in a 2.5K walk by indicating this at the time of registration.

Capt. Elizabeth Sewell, a mem-ber of the CGOC who worked with 2nd Lt. Mason Lucas to organize the race, said the Turkey Trot is be-ing held to not only keep the pre-Thanksgiving tradition going but also to give folks who have likely been cooped up over the past few months a reason to put on their running shoes and get outside with friends and colleagues.

“I think people have been a lit-tle stir crazy with so many events going virtual or being canceled, that if we could have an in-person race, it would get people excited again,” she said. “It also brings people together for a good cause. We can hold the event safely, so it’s a good way to get a little social

interaction going again.”Participation in the Turkey

Trot is free with the donation of a nonperishable food item at the time of sign-up or on race day. All donations collected by the GCOC will be provided to the Storehouse Food Pantry in Manchester.

For those wishing to receive a commemorative T-shirt, the entry fee to participate in the race is $10.

Registration on the day of the race will also be available, but commemorative T-shirts will not be guaranteed to day-of regis-trants.

The Turkey Trot will be held rain or shine.

This year’s race route will once again take runners from the front of the ALC, around the back of the building and along Woods Reser-voir. The trail will then take partic-ipants through the Arnold Village community and back to the ALC. Runners will complete this loop twice to finish the race.

There will be prizes for the top three male and top three female 5K finishers. As is tradition, the first-place winners will receive a frozen turkey just in time for the Thanks-giving holiday.

The 2.5K walk will allow par-ticipants to complete the loop once at their own pace.

Although the AEDC Turkey Trot is on again this year, steps have been taken to mitigate risks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks will be required of runners and walkers while gathered at the starting line, and participants are asked to follow social distancing guidelines during the event.

“The biggest changes are run-ners will be required to wear masks at the start of the race, but once the race starts and they have the ability to spread out, they can take them off,” Sewell said. “However,

once the participant is done with the race, they will need to put their mask back on. If a runner is passing someone on the course, they need to ensure they maintain a 6-foot dis-tance or put their mask back on. Be-cause this event is outside, we have the ability to have everyone social distance at the start and finish line.”

Like last year, participants are invited to go inside the ALC for drinks and fellowship following the conclusion of the race.

“With teleworking and social distancing, I think it is important that we still try and have some so-cial interaction, especially when we can do it safely right now,” Sewell said. “All the safety guidelines for the Lakeside Complex will still

need to be followed.” While the turnout for last year’s

Turkey Trot drew more than three dozen participants, organizers of this year’s event are hopeful that a later start time will encourage more members of Team AEDC and their families to sign up.

“With the holidays coming, I think it is important that we can come together as a community, especially during these difficult times,” Sewell said. “We pushed back the start time hoping we would have more family involvement.”

Disclaimer: The CGOC is a pri-vate organization which is not part of the Department of Defense or any of its components and has no governmental status.

Values

Vision

• Ethics. We are uncompromising in our integrity, honesty, and fairness.

• Safety & Health. We are relentless in keeping people safe from harm, andwe provide a safe and healthy work

environment.• Security. We are disciplined and vigilantin protecting sensitive AEDC information and ensuring system integrity to support

national security and our customers.• Excellence. We thrive on challenge, accomplishment, and mission success.• Quality. We are passionate about doing

our work right the first time.• People. We have a mission-focused,inclusive workforce who have a diverse skill set, are committed to success, demonstrate innovation and have a can

do attitude.• Culture. Our team is proud of our diver-sity, inclusiveness, and collaborative work environment. We are proud of what we do

and how we do it.• Relationships. We build positive, long-term business relationships through trust,

respect, and collaboration.• Innovation. We overcome challenges through creativity, perseverance, technol-ogy, and flexibility. We actively seek to

continually improve.• Sustainability. We plan and act for thelong term benefit of our communities and

our environment.

High Mach Staff:Kathy Jacobsen,

NAS Executive Editor

Jill Pickett NAS Editor

Arnold Air Force

Base

Richard TigheGeneral Manager,

National Aerospace Solutions

High Mach is published by Lakeway Publishers, Inc. a pri-vate firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, Arnold Air Force Base, Arnold Engi-neering Development Complex (AEDC) or National Aerospace Solutions (NAS), under exclu-sive written contract with NAS at Arnold AFB, Tenn., 37389.

Everything advertised in this publication will be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital sta-tus, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other non-merit factor of the purchaser, user or patron.

The High Mach office is located at 100 Kindel Drive, Suite A236, Arnold AFB, Tenn. 37389-1236. Editorial content is edited and prepared by NAS. Deadline for copy is Wednes-day at close of business one week before publication.

This commercial enterprise newspaper is an allowable NAS contractor publication for personnel at Arnold AFB.

The content of High Mach does not necessarily reflect the views of the Air Force, Arnold AFB, AEDC or NAS. The ap-pearance of advertising in this publication does not constitute endorsement of the products or services advertised by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, Arnold AFB, AEDC, NAS or Lakeway Publishers, Inc.For general information about High Mach, call (931) 454-5655 or visit www.arnold.af.mil.

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Use High Mach to mar-ket your products and services. Contact Joe at 931-455-4545 or jmartin@tullahomanews.com

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capabilities today and in the future.”

Col. Jeffrey GeraghtyCommander

Jason AustinChief,

Public Affairs

Smoking Policy1. The following revised Arnold AFB smoking policy is effective immediately and applies to all individuals on

Arnold AFB.2. Traditional Tobacco products (e.g. cigars and cigarettes):

a. Smoking is permitted solely in Designated Tobacco Areas (DTAs) identified by designated signage. If nosignage exists, smoking is not permitted in that area. It is the responsibility of all smokers to keep DTAsclean of cigarette butts.

b. Tobacco use on the Arnold AFB Golf Course is permitted, but discouraged based on the health hazardsof tobacco use and secondhand smoke. No smoking is permitted within 50 feet of golf course buildingsexcept in the approved DTA.

c. Smoking in government-owned/leased vehicles is strictly prohibited. Personnel are allowed to smoke in theirpersonal vehicles at any time; however, at no time will personnel discard cigarette butts outside their vehicle.

d. For government employees, the fact that a person smokes has no bearing on the number of breaks theymay take. Breaks should be taken in accordance with the current supervisory and personnel policies thatafford all employees the same break opportunities consistent with good work practices and accomplish-ment of the mission.

3. Smokeless Tobacco products (e.g. snuff and dip):Smokeless tobacco products are not to be restricted to DTAs. Smokeless tobacco use will be permitted in allworkplace areas (inside and out) subject to reasonable safety and sanitary conditions. Specifically, containersof tobacco waste product, including sealed containers, must not be left unattended or disposed of in trashreceptacles. Users of smokeless tobacco must flush tobacco waste down the toilet.

4. Electronic Cigarettes (also known as “e-cigs”):Pursuant to Air Force Instruction (AFI) 40-102, Tobacco Free Living, e-cigs are considered to be equivalent totobacco products; however, e-cigs are not restricted to DTAs and are allowed to be used outdoors at a minimumdistance of 25 feet from building entry/egress points. (This policy is dated July 27, 2016)

Team AEDC,I believe in free and open communications

with our Team AEDC employees, and that’s why we have the Action Line available. People can use the Action Line to clear up rumors, ask ques-tions, suggest ideas on improvements, enter complaints or get other issues off their chests.

The Action Line has been expanded to in-clude an option for your ideas, comments, or suggestions on the AcqDemo personnel sys-tem. Simply call the normal x6000 commander’s action line. You will then be prompted to select option 1 for the Commander’s Action Line or Op-tion 2 for the AcqDemo line. They can access the Action Line via the AEDC intranet home page and by calling 931-454-6000.

Although the Action Line is always available, the best and fastest way to get things resolved is by using your chain of command or by con-tacting the organization directly involved. I en-courage everyone to go that route first, then if the situation isn’t made right, give us a chance.

Col. Jeffrey GeraghtyAEDC Commander

Action Line

AEDC Turkey Trot returns to offer respite in a COVID-19 world

By Natausha BlyAFIMSC Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently granted the Air Force a patent for an inno-vative runway repair solution devel-oped at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center.

The formula, developed by members of AFCEC’s laboratory at Tyndall AFB, Florida, will al-low Rapid Airfield Damage Repair, or RADR, teams to quickly repair runways using materials that can be gathered locally, like sand and clay.

Additionally, the Air Force ex-pects a significant cost savings, said Craig Mellerski, AFCEC Require-ments and Acquisition Division chief. Using locally sourced mate-rials for three quarters of the mix-ture will save the Air Force around $1,140 per cubic yard.

The road to inventing cementi-tious material began in 2015, said Mellerski.

“The Air Force needed an al-ternate backfill solution that can be used in remote areas to patch dam-aged runways allowing critical mis-sion operations to resume quickly,” Mellerski said.

The AFCEC research team set out to create an adjustable, rapid-setting concrete solution, clocking in four K-Fill field evaluations and three K-Concrete field evaluations, and testing different combinations of sand, soil, clay and gravel mixed in with fly ash and an activator solu-tion.

Eventually, they landed on a formulation they dubbed “K-Fill.” Contrary to popular belief, the K

does not stand for Kara Griffith, the last remaining member of the origi-nal research team.

“Potassium Silicate Powder is the preferred ingredient in the acti-vator solution,” said Griffith. “’K’ is the chemical symbol for Potassium — but I’m flattered people think it’s named after me.”

While K-Fill won’t be in the field for operational use for about two more years, securing the patent is a

major step toward equipping RADR teams with this mission-critical tool.

“Whether it’s damage from an attack or natural disaster, an out-of-commission airfield in a remote location presents a huge risk to mission and Airmen,” said AFCEC Expeditionary Engineering Division Chief Maj. Khary Davis. “You can’t get supplies if you have a blocked transportation path. Providing an option to increase the use of in-situ materials allows additional options to civil engineers and can help re-duce the time to reopen airfields and logistic chains.”

With supplies at the ready, RADR teams can fill and set con-crete in just over an hour, bringing airfields back online quickly and at a cost savings to taxpayers.

Five years after starting this journey with now-retired lab mem-bers Dr. Derek Lovingood, Michael Henley and Jeffery Eichler, Griffith is grateful she was able to take the project over the finish line for her team.

“It means a lot to me that I was able to finish this work, and that I was able to complete the goals we had originally set out to complete when all of us were here,” Griffith said. “I’m glad I didn’t fail my team.”

AFCEC awarded patent for new runway repair technology

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Readiness Directorate re-search team fills craters using K-Concrete. The innovative run-way repair solution was developed by members of AFCEC’s Lab-oratory at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The solution allows rapid airfield damage repair teams to quickly repair runways using ma-terials that can be gathered locally, like sand and clay. (U. S. Air Force photo by Andrea Kennington)

November 2, 2020 • 3

AEDC Turkey Trot returns to offerrespite in a COVID-19 world

Flu shots administered at Arnold AFB

Tina Bond, a registered nurse with the Tennessee Department of Health, ad-ministers a flu shot to Capt. Marc Green, an Arnold Engineering Development Complex team member, Oct. 21 at Arnold Air Force Base. The Coffee County Health Department, which operates under the Tenn. Dept. of Health, held the clinic for all who could access the base. The shots were provided free of charge. The flu shot is mandatory for active duty members of the military. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)

Master Sgt. Lashonda Morehead, flight chief of Medical Operations at Arnold Air Force Base, directs traffic during a flu shot clinic Oct. 21 at Arnold AFB, as Tammie Raline, an office supervisor for the Coffee County Health Department, completes paperwork for an individual seeking to be vaccinated. The Coffee County Health Department held the clinic for all who could access the base. The shots were provided free of charge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledge that some whom receive the vaccine may still get sick, but that studies have shown the vaccination can reduce the severity of the illness. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)

Darla Sain, a registered nurse with the Tennessee Department of Health, ad-ministers a flu shot to Peggy Proffitt, an Arnold Engineering Development Complex team member, Oct. 21 at Arnold Air Force Base. The Coffee County Health Department, which operates under the Tenn. Dept. of Health, held the clinic for all who could access the base. The shots were provided free of charge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state it is more im-portant to receive the flu vaccine this year to protect the individual and those around them, and to help reduce strain on healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)

WIND TUNNEL from page 1

merly had no way to know the torque required to turn a ball screw, short of feel-ing the push back from a manual hand crank, we can now control and view that and much more data on a screen.”

These motors flex the nozzle to generate super-sonic speeds in 16S.

The nozzle walls are 16 feet tall, over 100 feet long and are made of steel that is an inch thick. They were originally designed to provide variable Mach number flow.

“To do this requires the ability to reshape the nozzle walls into different mathematical contours,”

McCamey said. “It is like a huge robotic transform-er that can shapeshift to provide the correct con-striction and expansion of air to create supersonic flow. It is the largest tun-nel in the world for these air speeds, making it a critical national asset for programs that want to test up to Mach 3.7.”

Previously, one of the biggest technical chal-lenges for 16S was get-ting the nozzle to flex and achieve the desired shapes efficiently.

“Though state-of-the-art when it was designed, the nozzle used hydraulic motors for movement and

tape reels to measure dis-tances within thousandths of an inch, using an ar-chaic control computer by today’s standards,” Mc-Camey said. “One of the technical challenges was identifying replacement electric drive motors that can survive the harsh en-vironment of temperature and partial vacuum inside the tunnel and that would fit a space not designed for them.”

Layne added that now that the goal is to operate the tunnel at even higher temperatures than it had once ran, part of the proj-ect included installing a cooler system.

“The old hydraulic power piping has been re-purposed to now become the cooling lines for the new motors,” he said.

Another challenge for the 16S team has been learning how to get the nozzle to move in such a way that the metal wall doesn’t become over-stressed. From a comput-ing technology stand-point, it was a significant technical challenge to get over 100 motors to simul-taneously interface with a central control computer from the 1980s. This same computer will be used for the initial relaunch of the facility, though it is

planned to be replaced as part of a follow-on proj-ect.

“This project has been an exercise in laying new technology on top of 70-year-old hardware thatis still capable of providingtest conditions for state-of-the-art aeronautics,” Mc-Camey said. “During the

commissioning phase, the team has witnessed the most efficient and reli-able nozzle movements the facility has ever ac-complished. It is a dem-onstration by AEDC that we can keep our assets on the cutting edge by wisely leveraging upgrades to the historical investments.”

Outside machinists Todd Robison, top, and Troy Jernigan inspect a ball screw for one of the jacks on the plenum side of the nozzle of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex 16-foot su-personic wind tunnel Sept. 25 at Arnold Air Force Base. These jacks are driven to precise locations by the nozzle motors to set correct contours for creating supersonic flow on the air side of the noz-zle. (U.S. Air Force photo by Deidre Moon) (This photo has been altered by obscuring a badge for security purposes.)

The team working to reactive the Arnold Engineering Development Complex 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel nozzle at Arnold Air Force Base stands in the nozzle of the test cell Sept. 25. The nozzle which has not been operational since a test in 1997 is now active. (U.S. Air Force photo by Deidre Moon) (This photo has been altered by obscuring badges for security purposes.)

AFCEC awarded patent for new runway repair technology

4 • November 2, 2020

of Maj. Gen. Franklin O. Carroll II, the first com-mander of AEDC. The building was officially renamed the Carroll Engi-

neering Analysis Facility. “Gen. Carroll personi-

fied the vision and tenacity it took to make technology and testing a central focus

within the Air Force,” Yates said during the dedication ceremony. “Without his foresight and commitment, we might not be standing

here today. We’re here to-day only because he fought for AEDC in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and in every other corner of government that he thought could make this become a reality.”

Carroll was born on Feb. 10, 1893, in Washing-ton, Indiana. He attended the University of Illinois, earning his Bachelor of Science in electrical engi-neering in June 1916. He began his career that same month with the Illinois Na-tional Guard Horse Cav-alry and served with Gen. John Pershing’s Expedi-tionary Force that searched for Pancho Villa.

In May of the follow-ing year, he entered Offi-cers Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and, that August, began flight train-ing at Kelly Field, Texas. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant in Janu-ary 1918 in the Aviation

Section of the Signal Re-serve and was assigned to Kelly Field as an instruc-tor, teaching students to fly planes as World War I continued.

In June 1919, Carroll was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Air Services in Washington, D.C. The following year, he entered the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology and completed the Air Service Course in June 1921.

After assignments at McCook Field, Ohio, Kel-ly Field and Wright Field, Ohio, among others, and his graduation from the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Ala-bama, Carroll was again assigned to Wright Field in 1939 as chief of the experimental engineering section’s research and de-velopment branch. After a three-month stint the fol-lowing year during which

he served as an assistant military attaché in London, England, Carroll returned to Wright Field as chief of the experimental engineer-ing section, remaining in that capacity until the end of World War II. There, he was at the center of every major experimental and engineering project during World War II.

According to his Air Force biography, Carroll approved the creation of the world’s most advanced wind tunnels and labora-tories for aeromedical re-search, communications, navigation and radar. He also oversaw the introduc-tion of the first jet engine to Wright Field.

Other assignments fol-lowed and, in October 1949, Carroll became as-sistant deputy chief of staff for materiel at the Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He soon assumed command of the Air Engineering Devel-opment Division of Air Materiel Command. This division was established to oversee the creation of AEDC.

In November 1950, Carroll moved the Air En-gineering Development Division to Tullahoma, Tennessee. The site was re-designated the Arnold Engineering Development Center by President Harry S. Truman on June 25,1951.

Carroll retired from the U.S. Air Force in ear-ly 1954. Among his many medals, Carroll held the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the World War I Victory Medal, the Mexi-can Border Service Med-al, the American Defense Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Asian-Pacific Theater Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal (Ja-pan).

He died on Sept. 13, 1988, at the age of 95.

Carroll was posthu-mously selected earlier this year to be honored as an AEDC Honorary Fellow.

product being used with re-alistic simulations of what those applications would look like in practice. It gives the developers better feedback on what worked, and what didn’t, when their nascent technologies were put to use. Simultaneously, it lets experienced combat-ants participate in the de-velopment of tomorrow’s capabilities.”

AFFTRAC is an effort to determine the effective-ness of a computer algo-rithm to enable a camera to find a potential target, fix or determine that it is an actual target, and then track that target. The flight testing is focused on the ability of the algorithm to use aircraft-based-camera imagery and aircraft location to provide directional commands to a human pilot in order to maintain visual contact with a target.

Capt. Aubrey Olson, a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilot is the lead de-veloper for AFFTRAC. Ol-son developed the idea and the code for the software. He then pitched it to the Test Pilot School. Olson is a student in the joint AFIT/Test Pilot School program and will earn two master degrees upon completion of the program. He is also the project manager and a Test RPA pilot for AFFTRAC, a Test Management Program (TMP) for Olson and other

Test Pilot School students. A TMP is the Test Pilot School equivalent of a the-sis for its students.

Olson explained that the defining characteristic of an RPA is that the pilot is physically separated from the aircraft. This control methodology creates an opportunity to graft on ad-ditional capability purely through software.

“AFFTRAC is attempt-ing to give an RPA added capability by allowing some level of tactical ex-ecution without direct input from the pilot,” Olson said. “This might happen when the aircraft is sent into a sig-nal-contested environment, or the pilot might choose to engage a system like AF-FTRAC so that they can focus more on collecting and disseminating informa-tion.”

This represents another first accomplished by this test flight – the first opera-tional RPA used in a Test Pilot School TMP.

The 586th FLTS and the 49th WG are both supplying aircraft for the Test Management Project (TMP) AFFTRAC, C-12J Huron test aircraft and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle, respectively.

The 586th FLTS regu-larly supports TMPs. The 49th WG was approached as a cost-effective alterna-tive to using a dedicated

test MQ-9. The wing flies multiple MQ-9 flights daily and was able to build an agreement with the Test Pi-lot School for the TMP.

As an RPA pilot, Olson developed the AFFTRAC idea to address an RPA problem, but recognized the value for manned aircraft as well. That is where the C-12J and the 586th FLTSbecame involved.

“I realized during de-velopment that it was something you could turn on as a workload-saving device for pretty much any aircraft that has a high-res-olution imagery sensor,” Olson said. “The C-12J also offers the benefit of a pilot physically being in the aircraft. This is good for development because we can use things like al-ternative GPS receivers that are outside the aircraft systems.”

In addition to C-12J aircraft, the 586th FLTS provided logistical support and flying experience to the TMP team.

“The equipment neces-sary for AFFTRAC alone posed a few challenges,” said 2nd Lt. Andrew Ser-vis, a flight test engineer with the 586th FLTS.

These challenges in-cluded a malfunction on a key piece of equipment requiring a three-month repair by the manufacturer, obtaining and installing a

Sniper Advanced Target-ing Pod to allow the C-12J to act as a manned version of a MQ-9, and the C-12J aircraft scheduled to return from the maintenance de-pot just a week prior to the scheduled test.

“Of course, if getting all the pieces together wasn’t challenging enough, we were executing AFFTRAC while ensuring COVID-19 mitigation,” Servis said.

The 586th FLTS also overcame an airspace lo-gistics challenge with a so-lution offering a long-term benefit. The AFFTRAC mission called for the use of both White Sands Mis-sile Range (WSMR) and Fort Bliss airspace. The Fort Bliss airspace is an

Army training range, and training usage of airspace is routine while testing us-age is not. According to 2nd Lt. Chase Bilyou, the 586th FLTS has previously conducted test flights in Fort Bliss airspace, but a formal scheduling process had not been established.

“Working through 586th Flight Test Squad-ron, Detachment 1 at WSMR, the Range Sched-uling Office at WSMR and the Fort Bliss Sched-uling Office, we were able to create a procedure that was successful for scheduling AFFTRAC’s airspace as well as poten-tial future testing across the two Army ranges,” Bilyou said.

The AFFTRAC TMP has helped forge connec-tions of units across Hol-loman AFB to the benefit of the U.S. Air Force and national defense.

“These kinds of partner-ship provide mutual sup-port between organizations pursuing different pieces of the same overall puzzle in national defense,” Byrnes said. “Both in terms of hu-man capital development and material test, Hollo-man is deeply engaged in building America’s combat airpower. The more ef-fectively test and training missions can support one another and the more effi-ciently they can use scarce resources to mutual ben-efit, the better.”

TEST PILOT from page 1

The 49th Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., supported the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School test program AFFTRAC (Automated Find, Fix and Track) with a MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, such as the one pictured, during test-ing in September. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Collette Brooks)

CARROLL from page 1

Maj. Gen. Franklin O. Carroll II stands at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex construction site at Arnold Air Force Base, in 1950. Carroll was the first AEDC commander and is credited with help-ing to bring the installation to fruition. The facility now known as the Carroll Building at Arnold AFB was completed 30 years ago and dedicated in Car-roll’s honor in June 1991. (U.S. Air Force photo)

November 2, 2020 • 5

By Tech. Sgt. Gary Lund960th Cyberspace Wing

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-CHAPMAN TRAINING ANNEX, Texas – Falls can hap-pen in several different ways and there are four A’s we can practice in or-der to prevent slips, trips and falls in the future. Fall prevention can be practiced; not just for the upcoming fall season, but also year round.

The first A is aware, because we must be aware of our surroundings at all times in order to pre-vent slips, trips and falls. Some hazards to look out for are carpet tears, flood spills, walkway obstacles, stairway clutter and cords in the middle of the floor.

The second A is ad-dress, because we must address any hazard we identify, whether it’s at our workplace or homes. Ways to address the haz-ard include adequate lighting, spill cleanup, reporting issues that can’t be fixed on the spot, and,

if needed, call for help in order to fix the hazard.

The third A is to al-ways keep safety on your mind when it comes to keeping your work area

and homes safe from tripping hazards. Ways to keep safety in mind would be to: Take your time when walking down steps of either stairs or

a ladder; don’t obstruct your view by carrying items that hinder your vision; be aware of your surroundings, even in familiar territory; avoid

texting or talking on cell phones while walking; wear proper footwear; use a spotter when climb-ing up and down ladders; look out for slopes in the

ground while walking; and beware of slippery surfaces from wet condi-tions. Also, always report mishaps regarding slips, trips and falls; even if they’re minor.

The fourth A is to ask yourself, before begin-ning work, the following questions: Are you us-ing handrails when going up and down stairwells? Where are you going to be standing on the lad-der? Do you have a spot-ter for jobs that require you to climb a ladder? Is your footwear adequate?

These are just a few questions to ask yourself in order to avoid slips, trips and falls. This list is not all inclusive.

Slip, trip and fall pre-vention can be practiced whether you’re in your workplace, or if you’re working virtually during this timeframe. Always remember that risk man-agement should be prac-ticed, not just in your ev-ery day job, but also with extracurricular activities you participate in off-du-ty, as well.

Fall is more than a season that’s upon us

Falls can happen in several different ways and prevention can be practiced. Not just for the upcoming fall season, but also year round. (U.S. Air Force courtesy image from Air Force Safety Center)

By Breanne HumphreysAir Force Installation and Mission Support Center Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) – The Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Readiness Directorate made its first delivery of the new medium-size ex-plosive ordnance disposal robot to the field Oct. 15, to Tyndall Air Force Base.

Over the next 16-18 months, AFCEC will de-liver 333 high-tech robots to every EOD flight Air Force-wide, said Master Sgt. Justin Frewin, AFCEC EOD equipment program manager. Each active-duty, Guard and Reserve flight will receive 3-5 robots.

The Man Transportable Robot System Increment II, or MTRS II, is a remotely operated, medium-sized robotic system that enables EOD units to detect, con-firm, identify and dispose of unexploded explosive ordnance and other hazards from a safe distance. The MTRS II replaces the de-cade-old Air Force Medium Sized Robot, or AFMSR, and provides a more intui-tive and user-friendly expe-rience, Frewin said.

“Much like iPhones and laptops, this technol-ogy moves at such a rapid speed; the difference in capabilities between the MTRS II and the AFMSR are significant,” he said. “The MTRS II controller is comparable to an Xbox or PlayStation-style controller – something the youngergeneration can pick up and immediately use withease.”

While the AFMSR tech-nology was already outdat-ed, the need to replace it be-came more dire after Hurri-cane Michael destroyed all robots in the repair facility at Tyndall AFB in October 2018. With support from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Cen-ter, AFCEC was able to de-velop and field the new sys-tem in less than two years.

On Oct. 15, AFCEC completed the first of sever-al planned deliveries – four

new robots to the 325th Civil Engineer Squadron and three to the 823rd Rap-id Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Detachment 1.

“Over the next 16-18 months, every EOD flight can expect to receive 3-5 new robots and an Op-erational New Equipment Training course,” Frewin said.

Among the first group to complete the 16-hour-long OPNET course was 325th CES’s Senior Air-man Kaelob King, who said the user-friendly na-ture of the new system greatly enhances EOD ca-pabilities.

“The new camera is much more efficient,” King said. “Our last camera was like looking through a fuzzy screen versus this one with multiple cameras up to 1080p with optical and digital zoom.”

In addition to improved optics, King is also pleased with the adaptability and flexibility of the new sys-tem.

“Being able to update or rewrite the software means the Air Force can easily expand our capabili-ties down the road by add-ing tools, sensors and other

attachments, whereas the old model required hard-ware updates,” King said. “In our field, having a flex-ible, autonomous robot is a really good thing.”

The new equipment also provides a competi-tive edge to the EOD ca-

reer field, said Chief Mas-ter Sgt. Van Hood, EOD career field manager.

“The biggest thing these new robots provide for CE is an enhanced force protection capabil-ity to protect people and resources from explosive-

related incidents, enable air superiority and quickly resume airbase mission activities,” the chief said. “The cameras, the con-trols, the communication systems – we’re able to get a lot more into a smaller package and we’re able

to be safer and more effi-cient.”

In addition to the $43 million MTRS II acquisi-tion, AFCEC also plans to complete a large robot acquisition in the coming months to replace the ag-ing Remotec F6A.

AFCEC begins rollout of high-tech EOD robots to installations

Two Man Transportable Robotic System – Increment II robots are pictured during a demonstration at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 15. The 325th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight was the first unit within the Air Force to receive the MTRS II. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Kayla Fitzgerald)

Senior Airman Jacob Runfola, Airman 1st Class Aaron Talton, and Senior Airman Matthew Kale, all with the 325th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight, operate a Man Transportable Ro-botic System – Increment II, or MTRS II, robot during a demonstration at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 15. The 325th CES EOD flight was the first unit within the Air Force to receive the new system. (U.S. AirForce photo by 2nd Lt. Kayla Fitzgerald)

6 • November 2, 2020

By Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTER-SON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) – Air Force Materiel Command began a phased roll-out of CO-VID-19 surveillance testing Oct. 1.

The surveillance testing will begin with active-duty populations at four AFMC bases: Edwards Air Force Base, California; Eglin AFB, Florida; Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts; and Hill AFB, Utah. Participa-tion in this testing effort is voluntary.

The testing will be con-ducted in 14-day periods, eventually testing 100 to-tal active-duty personnel at each location within the first two months of testing. The active-duty populations selected for testing at the

above locations include the following:

Period 1: Healthcare workers

Period 2: Dorm resi-dents

Period 3: Host wing personnel

Period 4: Installation workforce

As testing efforts are fine-tuned and streamlined, testing will expand farther to other AFMC installations and among other base popu-lations. At this point in time, testing will begin only with-in these active-duty popula-tions.

The testing effort is part of a larger Department of the Air Force sentinel sur-veillance strategy to ran-domly test Air and Space Force military and civilian personnel to identify and contain pockets of the coro-navirus. The goal is to test

people without symptoms for COVID-19 to determine if additional public health actions are needed in work areas. Ultimately, the Air Force wants to ensure Air-men and the Air Force com-munity remain healthy and able to fly, fight and win in air, space, and cyberspace.

Individuals selected for testing will be notified via an email message from their local Military Treatment Facility. Any selected per-sonnel with a positive con-firmed case of COVID-19 within the last 90 days will not be tested.

These four bases will use the oral fluid coronavirus test provided by Curative, Inc., with whom the Air Force signed an agreement in April to deploy and scale an oral fluid coronavirus test that received a Food and Drug Administration emer-

gency-use authorization. The test collects saliva with a cotton swab and examines it for the COVID-19 virus.

Four to six individual samples will be grouped together (also called aggre-gated testing). The aggre-gated sample will receive an identification number and then be tested for the presence of the COVID-19 virus. Due to the rules for using this test to identify COVID-19 activity in popu-lations of people without symptoms, tests will not be ordered through the medical system and results will not be placed in health records.

Aggregated sample results will be provided to commanders to allow them to take public health actions in response to the presence of COVID-19 in the work area, even if peo-ple seem healthy.

If an aggregated result is positive, the local Pub-lic Health Office can pro-vide tailored guidance for the unit that might include individuals in the group receiving a medical evalu-ation and being directed to self-isolate until a clinical test result is received (or potentially a full 10 days if they are not tested). Public Health Office actions may also include a site visit to evaluate the work area and work practices, and possi-bly thorough cleaning of the work area.

At AFMC installa-tions, testing begins with a randomized selection of 10 active-duty Airmen every 14 days to be tested, beginning with 10 health care workers. The next 14 days will see 10 randomly selected dorm residents, added to the 10 health

care workers tested. The following 14 days will add 10 randomly selected host wing personnel to Airmen selected from the other two groups. The next 14 days will add 10 randomly selected Airmen from the installation workforce.

The testing effort will be continually evaluated and refined with each round of testing, as may be needed. At the end of the two month roll-out phase, and once the test-ing is further streamlined, AFMC leadership will evaluate and possibly be-gin an expansion of the surveillance testing.

More information for Airmen affected by the surveillance testing can be found in the AFMC COVID-19 Tier 4 Sur-veillance Testing FAQ or via their local MTF.

AFMC begins phased COVID-19 surveillance testing

By Marisa Alia-NovobilskiAir Force Materiel Command

W R I G H T - P A T -TERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – With a fo-cus rooted in the ability to sustain the mission and an eye towards long-term expansion and growth, the Air Force Materiel Com-mand successfully execut-ed a $67 billion portfolio in Fiscal Year 2020, ensuring operational mission suc-cess for our warfighters.

“Our approach to this year was to build and ex-ecute a plan that would help us to strategically ad-dress challenges related to key requirements includ-ing the funding of civilian pay increases, execution of $39 billion in expiring investment portfolio funds and helping the Air Force to resolve $7.8 billion in enterprise-level bills while ensuring continued opera-tions through the end of the fiscal year with minimal impact to the warfighter,” said Col. Jason Holcomb, director, AFMC Budget. “Leveraging the tremen-dous teamwork of all AFMC stakeholders, our solvency strategy worked, and we successfully closed the books on fiscal year 2020, conducting most of our processes in a telework environment without skip-ping a beat.”

AFMC manages more than one-third of the total Air Force budget, dispers-ing funds across six cen-ters, multiple platforms and installations, in sup-port of missions ranging from research and devel-opment, to test, acquisi-tion, life cycle manage-ment, sustainment, instal-lation support and more. More than $8.2 billion supports readiness, infra-structure, installation and mission support activities, and quality of life enhance-ments for Airmen across the service. The command also manages the $18.4 billion Centralized As-set Management (CAM) portfolio that streamline the programming, budget-ing and sustainment of Air Force platforms and muni-tions at an enterprise, fleet-wide level.

This year’s strategy fo-cused on ensuring AFMC’s most critical requirements were addressed, regardless of the dollar value. Among

key funding successes this year include the award of a $600,000 contract to sup-port the Edwards Air Force Base Military Personnel Facility and the resourcing of $142 million dollars to fund a Second Destination Transportation shortfall. A new fire station mili-tary construction project is nearing completion at Eglin Air Force Base, and $768,000 will ensure a the facility is equipped with a full communications suite, ready to operate on day one.

Other critical funding efforts included the award of a $300,000 contract for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Weather Op-erations and $100,000 to fund the Multi-Spectral Test and Training Envi-ronment. Anti-terrorism Force Protection require-ments at several AFMC bases received more than $200,000 in funding, and $400,000 funded Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Propulsion Direc-torate requirements. Work-ing closely with the Air Force Installation and Mis-sion Support Center teams, AFMC also executed $9.1 million for new female body armor and $6 million for next-generation ballis-tic helmets for Air Force defenders.

More than $2.4 million of this year’s budget was allocated towards a num-ber of squadron innovation requirements, and $18 mil-lion of funding supported AFMC We Need initia-tives. This included $7.3 million for facility im-provements, $9.7 million in information technology requirements, to include the purchase of more than 7,000 improved laptops for AFMC Airmen, and fund-ing to support a RAND Study focused on Cross-Functional Authorities.

A cross-functional Lo-gistics, Civil Engineering, Force Protection and Nu-clear Integration Director-ate and AFMC Financial Management CAM team leveraged innovation and collaboration in the ex-ecution of its portfolio this year, particularly when faced with $1.1 billion in unfunded requirements and minimal funding less than six months ago. By reallocating funding to ensure readiness of the highest priority weapons systems, the team sourced

$617 million mission-critical UFRs, including F-22 supply services andengine overhauls, RC-135and KC-135 engine over-hauls, B-1 fatigue testingand fuselage repairs, F-15E programmed depot maintenance, Eglin radarreceiver replacements, and more.

The CAM team also processed more than $400 million in reimbursements for fuel, flight line main-tenance and weapons sys-tem support for dozens of customers and organiza-

tions across the Air Force, ensuring continuity of support for mission readi-ness.

On the installation and infrastructure side, the AFIMSC mitigated chal-lenges from ongoing storm damage requirements at multiple locations, Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System up-dates and the coronavirus pandemic, among others, ensuring that installations and Airmen were able to remain mission-ready. The center executed more than

$402 million towards CO-VID-19 requirements and $531 million for natural disaster relief activities. Teams also ensured $4.7 billion in facilities, sustain-ment, restoration and mod-ernization requirements were resourced, including $1.6 billion for nearly 600 facility projects.

Holcomb expects some of the fiscal year 2020 challenges to impact the resourcing environment as the command enters the new fiscal year; however AFMC leadership expects

that by focusing resources on supporting the warfight-er and looking at resourc-ing processes through an innovative lens, the com-mand is well postured to execute its critical mis-sions in fiscal year 2021.

“The AFMC financial management profession-als are already working strategies to ensure the Fiscal Year 2021 execu-tion plans meet the needs of our Airmen,” said Hol-comb “We’re looking forward to all that comes with a new year.”

AFMC successfully navigates 2020 challenges

U.S. Air Force Col. Greg Moseley, 325th Fighter Wing commander, speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Air Battle Manager Simulator building at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Oct. 13. The ground-breaking marks the start of the first new construction on base after the destruction of Hurricane Michael in 2018. The AFIMSC executed more than $531 million for natural disaster relief activities during FY20. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Tiffany Price)

Airman Alex Orquiza, 71st Security Forces Squadron, wears the next generation of ballistic helmet during a door breaching exercise at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, Sept. 15. The Air Force Security Forces Center is delivering the helmets to security forces units as part of its effort to standardize and modernize Defender equipment across the Air Force. The new helmets are lighter, cooler, have better padding, and come with a built-in railing to fit accessories, such as night vision goggles and tactical communication equipment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Taylor Crul)

November 2, 2020 • 7

AFMC begins phased COVID-19 surveillance testing

By Darrius ParkerAir Force MaterielCommand

W R I G H T - P A T -TERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – Edmund Burke, a 1700s philoso-pher, once said, “Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.” It is Burke’s tenet that un-derlies the activities of the AFMC History and Heri-tage Program office, which plays a vital role in guiding leaders as they work to-wards the future.

The AFMC program is comprised of historians, archivists and curators. These individuals gather critical documents to pre-serve in the command’s archive and write the com-mand’s annual history, along with classified and unclassified special stud-ies, books, and briefings.

Yancy Mailes, Func-tional Manager, AFMC History and Heritage Pro-gram, manages 14 histori-ans, eight museum special-ists and two archivists. He also provides oversight for

four museums and 21 his-torical property accounts, which include 10,000 arti-facts and 278 aircraft.

“Most people believe we work in a museum, when in fact that is a total-ly different job. A historian focuses on living current history and making sure those efforts and lessons learned are stored in a cen-tral archive. Museum per-sonnel build interpretative displays and focus on the distant past,” said Mailes. “However, our two disci-plines are connected. I like

to say that if a historian does not write history to-day, we will not have heri-tage or lessons learned 25 years from now. If the his-torian fails to do their job, we will not be able to work with museum personnel to inspire and educate Air-men.”

Just as history has played a role in guiding leaders from the past, his-tory continues to influence the decisions of our lead-ers today.

“One of the big lessons we have learned is that leadership does not want to know what happened, but rather what did not happen,” said Mailes. “On a regular basis, they ask us for the courses of action that leaders did not choose when bedding down a new weapons system or how the Air Force handled a particular personnel is-sue.”

Not only can historians influence the decision pro-cess as well as inspire and educate Airmen, but they can also become the “voice of reason” for leaders.

“During my five years at Eglin Air Force Base I was able to document many fas-cinating technology leaps, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition and the Small Diameter Bomb,” said Mailes. “At this time, the Air Force really wanted to shorten the time it took to identify a threat, send a fighter or bomber to destroy the threat, and then send in-telligence assets to survey the area for bomb damage assessment. I was a witness to history as I watched sev-eral joint exercises where testers and warfighters came together and short-ened that chain.”

The history and heritage program played a key role when the AFMC We Need initiative launched in 2019. The AFMC historians brought wisdom from the study of leadership deci-sions of the past and helped guide field teams as they gathered data to coordinate the roadmap for the future.

“We found that person-nel and the commander was more interested in read-ing special studies rather than annual history,” said Mailes. “Since Gen. Bunch was highly interested in

housing privatization, we decided to write a special study on that subject. That study went all the way up to Headquarters Air Force.”

The history office took it upon themselves to find new ways to teach the per-sonnel of AFMC while bridging the gap between generations. They accom-plished this by creating the AFMC History Display, which resides in the head-quarters building.

“We need to understand that we have to appeal to a different demographic, which is younger people. We came up with this ex-hibit so that personnel can both read on one side, and watch videos with a touch screen on the other,” said Mailes. “We want to bridge the gap between the older generation and the younger generation, and be able to educate them all at once.”

Not only is the history office able to reach per-sonnel within AFMC and the Air Force, they have also found a way to reach people outside the organi-zation as well.

“We revived a book program that had to be closed. I wanted to come up with a way to create an agreement between civil-ian book writers that would have them write for us, and in return they would have access to archives at public affairs level as well as our assistance as researchers,” said Mailes. “Although the writers wouldn’t get paid, we had about 10 authors that loved the idea.”

By taking an innova-tive, forward-leaning ap-proach to historical activ-ity, the AFMC History and Heritage Program has proven that they are inte-gral to the mission success of AFMC and the Air Force of the future.

“AFMC wants and needs historians, and the reason for that is because we have proven that we can be neutral, have great research skills and that we can take large amounts of information and distill it down into a workable course of action,” said Mailes. “Our leaders can look to us for guidance.”

By AFWERX Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) – AFWERX is recommending more than 250 proposals as part of its X20D Small Business Technology Transfer, or STTR, Open Topic so-licitation, a record in the program’s nearly three-decade history.

“After successfully completing weeks of evaluations, selectees are undergoing final due dili-gence activities prior to proceeding to contract award,” said Maj. Jared Evans, AFVentures’ STTR Open Topic program man-ager. “While this is only the fourth STTR Open Topic, the X20D cohort is on track to be the largest single cohort in the STTR program’s history – repre-senting a collective Phase 1 effort worth over $38 million.”

The STTR Open Topic aims to help small businesses commercial-ize emerging research in partnership with a quali-fying non-profit organi-zation, academic institu-tion, or federally funded research and develop-ment center, or FFRDC. Different from the tra-ditional STTR program, the Open Topic provides an opportunity for small businesses to highlight any technology or solu-tion to the Air Force.

“This unprecedented interest demonstrates the value of the STTR program and the energy created when academia, industry, investors and government unite to ac-celerate commercializa-tion of transformative technologies,” said Col. Nathan P. Diller, AFW-ERX director. “While we are pleased to use this as a tool to bolster the work-

force of the future and propel research and de-velopment in the electric vertical takeoff and land-ing, or eVTOL, market, we are even more excited to see what other ‘Prime programs’ might spring from these partnerships.”

The Open Topic does not limit proposals based on technology or applica-tion, but this cohort was an out-of-cycle solicita-tion highlighting a single focus area, the AFWERX Agility Prime initiative. Agility Prime is a non-tra-ditional program seeking to operationalize “flying cars” for government missions in a way that accelerates the emerging commercial market.

The objective of this Open Topic Focus Area was to explore potential commercial technolo-gies being developed in the emerging eVTOL market to field flying

organic resupply bus, or ORBs, for disaster response, humanitarian aid and logistics mis-sions. The sub-topic is intended to survey a large scope of technolo-

gies such as autonomy, advanced aircraft mate-rials and manufacturing, rapid planning for dense air environments and lo-gistics efficiencies, and electrical power storage,

generation and charging.For more information

about the Small Busi-ness Technology Transfer (STTR) and Agility Prime programs visit https://www.afwerx.af.mil.

8 • November 2, 2020

AFWERX announces record response, $38 million for “Flying Car” topic

Matt Chasen, LIFT Aircraft chief executive officer, pilots the electric vertical takeoff and landing Hexa over Camp Mabry, Texas, Aug. 20. During the visit, Col. Nathan Diller, AFWERX director, spoke about Agility Prime, a non-tradi-tional program seeking to accelerate the commercial market for advanced air mobility vehicles. (Air National Guard photo by Staff. Sgt. Sean Kornegay)

Operationalizing History: Lessons from the past guide the Air Force future

Jack Waid, Air Force Materiel Command Historian, sets up one of the information screens on the his-tory display at the AFMC Headquarters, Wright-Pat-terson Air Force Base, Ohio. (U.S. Air Force photo by Darrius Parker)

Tony Landis, Air Force Materiel Command Histo-rian, checks for an archive within the History and Heritage Program office at the AFMC Headquarters, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (U.S. Air Force photo by Darrius Parker)

By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) – The Depart-ment of the Air Force will soon conduct focus groups with Total Force Airmen and Space Pro-fessionals about their experiences surrounding interpersonal violence.

The focus groups were scheduled to begin the week of Oct. 26 and consist of interpersonal violence survey partici-

pants who volunteered to take part in small-group discussions.

Interpersonal violence ranges from stalking and bullying to domestic vio-lence, sexual assault and abuse.

“Within the interper-sonal violence survey, members could opt-in to take part in a limited amount of focus groups. These groups will help us understand our mem-bers’ perspectives sur-rounding interpersonal

violence,” said Brig. Gen. April Vogel, direc-tor for manpower, per-sonnel, recruiting and services at the National Guard Bureau, and the interpersonal violence task force lead. “Their voices are an imperative piece to determine if we are keeping our Airmen and Space Professionals safe when they face in-terpersonal violence.”

The focus groups are part of an approach in which the focus-group

data, survey data and data gathered from reviewing past cases involving in-terpersonal violence will be used to identify any themes or proposed areas for improvement.

The survey portion concluded Oct. 9, and approximately 68,000 Total Force Airmen and Space Professionals par-ticipated, including civil-ians.

“Thank you to every-one who took part in the survey. We know your

time is very valuable. We explored multiple avenues to gather data and this survey was the most comprehensive way to initially reach the To-tal Force,” Vogel said. “Currently, the collected survey data is being ana-lyzed by our experts, and we will begin to compile our findings.”

A comprehensive re-view of the findings, to include both the focus group and survey data, is scheduled for early 2021.

The task force stood up in July with the goal of exploring processes, programs and leader-ship actions associated with keeping Airmen and Space Professionals safe when faced with inter-personal violence situa-tions. The task force will ultimately be developing recommendations for se-nior leadership review focused on improving Department of the Air Force policies, processes and actions in this area.

November 2, 2020 • 9

By Deidre MoonAEDC Public Affairs

Leadership with the Test Operations and Sustainment (TOS) con-tractor for Arnold En-gineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., led a teleconference Oct. 13 and 14 with members of the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) of its Uni-versity Consortium made up of senior professors from universities across the nation.

Among the topics dis-cussed was the need to advance test and evalu-ation capabilities and the current efforts taking place at Arnold, as well as the AEDC geographically separated units.

“As the Air Force steps up to grow and im-prove our facilities, we must grow and advance the people part of the equation,” said Mark By-master, director of AEDC TOS Performance Assur-ance.

The TAB meetings are held three times a year. The board consists of pro-fessors appointed from the member universities of the TOS contractor Uni-versity Consortium, which includes Georgia Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue and Texas A&M.

“The meetings provide

an opportunity to go over what we have been doing in the test world at AEDC, and at the same time, pro-vide the professors from these universities the chance to let us know what type of research they’re working on and how it could benefit what we are doing,” said Chris Crum-bly, AEDC TOS technical director. “It also allows us a chance to explore our in-novative efforts here and see how they are able to assist.”

Not only do the uni-versities collaborate with AEDC on research proj-ects, but the meetings are beneficial in helping to promote career opportuni-ties at Arnold.

“The professors advo-cate to their students to join our internship pro-gram,” Crumbly said. “We have had several students from these universities in-tern with us over the last few years, and some of these students have gone on to later join our team as full-time employees.”

A member of Air Force leadership is also invited to the meetings to provide insight on recent AEDC accomplishments and ef-forts. Col. Lincoln Bon-ner, AEDC Test Division chief, represented the Air Force at the October meet-ing.

“I discussed my per-spective on the Air Force’s

future direction based on my recent experience as a strategist at Headquar-ters U.S. Air Force,” Bon-ner said. “I highlighted the four capability devel-opment focus areas for the Air and Space Forc-es – Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), Dominate Space, Generate Combat Power, and Sustaining Lo-gistics Under Attack – that complement the Air and

Space Forces’ number one priority of a safe and se-cure nuclear deterrent.

“Lastly, I discussed the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Accelerate Change Or Lose message, and some of its implications for AEDC, in particular the imperative that, ‘Capabili-ties must be conceived, de-veloped, and fielded inside competitors’ fielding time-lines. …If we are to beat our competitors in conflict,

we must also beat them in development and fielding of capability.”

Bonner added that meetings such as these are mutually beneficial.

“It is a beneficial ex-change because AEDC is able to maintain a pulse on emerging research at some of America’s most prestigious universities, and some of the leading science and engineering minds at these institutions

are able to better under-stand AEDC and U.S. na-tional defense challenges,” he said. “I greatly appreci-ated the opportunity to ad-dress the group. Success in long-term strategic com-petition with China and Russia cannot be achieved without support from America’s STEM research community.”

The next TAB meeting is tentatively scheduled for early March 2021.

Technical Advisory Board meeting held to discuss efforts and opportunities at Arnold AFB

Dr. Rich Tighe, right, general manager of the Test Operations and Sustainment (TOS) contractor for Ar-nold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), speaks during a University Consortium and Technical Advisory Board meeting held virtually Oct. 13 at Arnold Air Force Base. Also in attendance, from left, AEDC TOS Deputy General Manager Mike Belzil and Technology Innovations Branch Manager Mark Bran-don. (U.S. Air Force photo by Deidre Moon)

Department of the Air Force to conduct focus groups on interpersonal violence

10 • November 2, 2020

By Charles PopeSecretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) – Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., said Oct. 21 that the service must “fully un-derstand our adversary,” it must successfully adapt to information-age warfare while moving with speed and certainty in order to fulfill missions and protect national security.

In his first appearance at the influential Mitch-ell Institute for Aerospace Studies since becoming the Air Force’s highest ranking officer, Brown offered his prescription during the vir-tual event for maintaining the service’s excellence, his approach on leadership and insights on an array of top-ics ranging from the status of the nuclear triad to the value of war games and bu-

reaucracy.Tying them together

was Brown’s insistence that the Air Force move fast and that its policies and prac-tices conform to a time of great power competition and the value of joint op-erations.

“Our peer competitors ... are challenging us in different ways and chal-lenging how we are able to generate combat power now and into the future,” he said, adding that how the threats are defined must also be recalibrated.

“We’re in contested space right now when you think about cyber,” he said. “We need to be thinking about how we deal in the homeland as well at the same time we think about how we might fight what I call an ‘away game.’”

Brown spoke at length during the hour-long ses-sion about a document he

released in August entitled “Accelerate Change or Lose,” an 8-page docu-ment capturing his priori-ties and the culture needed to accomplish them. That document was followed by “action orders” focused on four specific areas - Air-men, bureaucracy, competi-tion, and finally, design and implementation.

For the “Airmen” cat-egory, “I’m thinking about those who wear the uni-form or are Department of the Air Force civilians, they ought to appreciate coming to work each day,” echoing a sentiment expressed by previous Chiefs of Staff. “We must provide them the resources, the training and the guidance and the intent and the authority to do their jobs and enjoy coming to work.”

But in a departure, Brown also said a different culture is needed to adapt

to a world where speed is necessary.

“We can’t always wait and ask for permission. I want our younger leaders to be empowered to make de-cisions on a lower level that we trust them to do their job at the same time they trust the leadership; it goes both ways,” he said.

For that approach to work, he said, Air Force leaders must ensure the proper conditions are pres-ent. “Do they have all the tools? Have we helped them through the path? Or do we throw them in the deep end and say, ‘Call if you need help?’ How do we work with all the lead-ership chains to make sure they have what they need?” he said.

Likewise, Brown said he is determined to ensure that leaders and Airmen know bureaucracy must be streamlined and even

reshaped. “Redundancy” must be eliminated where possible and lines of com-munication “must be flat-tened,” he said.

“I hate bureaucracy. It’s just something I’ve always dealt with. I like cutting to the chase and getting things done,” he said. “... But I also think there are things inter-nal to the United States Air Force that we can do things a bit faster. I’m looking at ourselves in the mirror as a United States Air Force; I think there are things inter-nal to us that we’ve got to do a bit better.”

On competition, Brown said the Air Force, like the U.S. military as a whole, is moving with dispatch to reconfigure its policies, practices and doctrine to confront peer powers such as Russia and China after decades focusing on com-batting terrorism.

Succeeding, he said, de-

mands a deep and precise knowledge of each adver-sary and successfully in-corporating new mindsets that embrace joint opera-tions and the value of “ca-pabilities” rather than indi-vidual “platforms.”

“We’ve got to get our house in order to talk more about capabilities and less about platform,” he said.

“We need to take a hard look at each platform, each capability we buy and look at it through the lens of what the threat is and not just blindly continuing to buy the same thing because it’s available,” he said.

Brown offered two ex-amples. One is further de-velopment and field tests of the advancement of the Advanced Battle Manage-ment System (ABMS). That system links sensors, weapons and hardware from multiple services that provides unprecedented speed and information to joint commanders pro-cessed by artificial intelli-gence and machine learn-ing.

To date there have been three field tests of the evolving ABMS system, with two occurring in re-cent weeks. “Demonstra-tions are important because you can see what’s in the realm of the possible rather than just talking about it,” Brown said.

Second, Brown said in response to a question, is clarity on what the Air Force means when it says it needs to increase to 386 squadrons.

“The number 386 was in response to a specific question - how big does the Air Force need to be to ex-ecute the National Defense Strategy?” Brown said. “It wasn’t how big of an Air Force can you afford?

“I think more so what’s the capability that would give me the equivalent of 386? It may be informa-tion, moving data that in-creases our capability. … Anything less, capability-wise, incurs some level of risk,” he said.

Brown acknowledged that modernizing the land-based and bomber-based nuclear deterrent that the Air Force operates is need-ed. That the air, land, sea triad is critical to the na-tion’s security is without question, Brown said, call-ing it “a bedrock of deter-rence since the Cold War.”

“As we think about the modernization aspect of this we also have to under-stand where our adversar-ies are and what they are doing. That should factor into the decision making as we go forward.

“We’ve got great sys-tems but our two legs of the nuclear triad are up in age and modernization will be important,” Brown said.

Arnold AFB Milestones35 YEARSJeffrey Johnson, TOSTimothy McNeese, TOSRobert D. Porter, TOS

25 YEARSChristoper Harter, TOS

15 YEARSJohn Adams, TOS

Todd Altaffer, TOSMark Brown, TOSNathan Crocker, TOSDarrell Hargrove, TOSSteven Lampley, TOSWilliam McPhatter, TOS

10 YEARSDavid Ansley, TOS

Christopher Stevens, TOS

INBOUND MILITARYTech. Sgt. Ethan Cross, AFTech. Sgt. Mark Friskel, AFTech. Sgt. Theresa Morgan, AF

RETIREMENTSMaj. Christopher Brunelle, AF

David Compton, TOSWilliam Crutchfield, FSSScott Darlington, TOSKelsey Kim, TOSRobert Schwer, TOSDakin Seligman, TOSEdward Sexton, TOS

NEW HIRESDaniel Brookbank, TOS

Peng Huang, TOSRyne Knuckles, AFJames Lance, AFThomas Starling, AF

PROMOTIONSChristopher Fernandez, AF, promoted to captain

Brown articulates vision for Air Force’s future in Mitchell Institute appearance

November 2, 2020 • 11

Travis AFB hosts clinical research for NASA’s newly developed medical technology

By Senior Airman Christian Conrad60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) – NASA rep-resentatives presented new medical diagnostic technology, the E-Nose Breathalyzer, to mem-bers of David Grant USAF Medical Center Oct. 21, 2020, at Travis Air Force Base.

The E-Nose Breath-analyzer, under de-velopment at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, will have the capability of analyzing compounds found within a person’s breath to diagnose a battery of illnesses and abnormalities includ-ing respiratory illness-es, infectious diseases and cardiovascular conditions. As the sci-ence continues to be explored, the breath analyzer may one day be used to diagnose cancer. Travis AFB Airmen are hosting the NASA technology and collaborative research at the DGMC clinical investigation facility.

“The technology is designed to make rapid measurements, in less than 5 minutes, at the point of care, in a way that is completely non-invasive. When fully realized, the NASA E-Nose will open a new realm of medical care to both the warfighter

and potential space travelers,” said Dr. David Loftus, NASA Ames Research Cen-ter medical officer and principal investigator of the Space Bioscienc-es Research Branch.

“The technology it-self is handheld,” Lof-tus said. “This makes it valuable not only to the U.S. Air Force during aeromedical evacua-tion, but also to NASA, as a tool for monitoring the health of astronauts

far from medical cen-ters on Earth. Human exploration of space, to the Moon and Mars, will require compact medical diagnostics technologies that can be ruggedized for field use. The Air Force and other branches of the military share this re-quirement.”

Loftus, who visited Travis AFB two years ago on a search for fa-cilities that would best advance the capabili-

ties of the E-Nose to-ward its eventual clini-cal application, cites the base’s robust test-ing capabilities as the reason it was chosen.

“We like to think of Travis (AFB) as the bridge between bench-top and bedside,” Lof-tus said. “Its ability to perform the neces-sary tests needed to ensure the feasibil-ity and practical use of this technology really formed the connective

tissue that allowed it to go from an idea to a us-able device, capable of improving the lives of countless people.”

The mission of im-proving lives is one that both NASA and DGMC have in com-mon.

This new technology not only has the poten-tial to improve care for warfighters, but for the nation’s civilian popu-lation as well, said Dr. Bradley Williams, 60th

Medical Group clinical research administrator.

“As with past tech-nology that has been developed by the Air Force at DGMC, NASA medical research can improve civilian care throughout the coun-try,” Williams said. “The Air Force and NASA share the same altruistic medical re-search mission. Togeth-er, we seek to develop the future medical care which will be needed by the U.S. Space Force and which will also be very useful to the rest of the nation’s hospi-tals.”

In his comments dur-ing the event, Loftus made sure to give praise to those who were chiefly responsible for the device’s develop-ment.

“Dr. Jing Li, the project lead, and Dr. Tore Straume, both at NASA Ames Research Center, are important members of the group, along with Dr. Matthew Coleman and Dr. Mat-thias Frank at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This is very much a team effort.”

The future of the relationship between DGMC and NASA looks bright, with plans for future collaborative medical research be-tween the two institu-tions currently in talks, particularly in the fields of nutritional medicine and blood analysis.

Dr. David Loftus, NASA Ames Research Center medical officer and principal investigator of the Space Biosciences Research Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif., meets with members of the 60th Medical Group at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., June 1, 2018. Loftus pre-sented the first working prototype of the E-Nose Breathalyzer, a handheld device developed by NASA at a symposium at David Grant USAF Medical Center, Oct. 21. Travis Airmen are hosting the NASA technology and collaborative research at the DGMC clinical investigation facility. (U.S. Air Force photo by Louis Briscese)

12 • November 2, 2020