Courtesy Photo | Jan. 16, 2025, marks the 40th anniversary of the first full air-on operation in the...... read more read more
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – Not long after the calendar turned to 1985, team members at Arnold Air Force Base rang in the new year by achieving a major milestone in the activation of the then-newest facility on the installation.
The first air-on operation of the Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility occurred on Jan. 16 of that year. This first full-scale activation test of the facility marked the first time air had been circulated through the air supply, test cell and exhauster equipment in ASTF during a single run.
To accomplish this successful first run, an engine simulator matched to the size of engines in the DC-10 and 747 commercial airliners was placed in one of the ASTF test cells. This activation test simulated flight conditions at an altitude of 30,000 feet and an air speed of Mach 1.1.
ASTF, which is part of the Engine Test Facility at Arnold AFB, is designed to test large military and commercial engines in true mission environments. The facility allows data which was previously only available after extensive flight testing to be acquired through ground testing.
The process of bringing ASTF to fruition at Arnold involved approximately two decades of planning and just shy of a half-billion dollars. NASA and the Department of Defense Aeronautics and Astronautics Coordinating Board identified ASTF as essential to the nation, as there was a need for a facility designed for testing integrated, full-scale propulsion systems under more realistic simulated flight conditions.
The conception of ASTF involved numerous government agencies and aerospace companies. Its construction involved approximately 700 different companies.
In September 1976, then-President Gerald Ford signed into law the military construction bill that included $437 million for the construction of ASTF. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held at Arnold AFB in May 1977 to mark the official beginning of the construction project. Site preparation began that September, and actual construction began in the spring of 1978. ASTF took around seven years to build with a construction cost of $625 million.
The facility was dedicated in October 1984.
The first full-capacity air-on operation in early 1985 would hardly represent the only achievement to occur in ASTF that year. That April, an F100 turbofan engine successfully ran in an ASTF test cell for more than an hour at a simulated flight condition of 16,000 feet altitude and Mach 0.8, with this checkout test marking another significant step in activation of the facility. Subsequent tests conducted at maximum power soon followed.
In September 1985, an F100 test using the previously-installed Test Instrumentation System and Automatic Test Control System was successfully conducted in ASTF, signaling the facility for initial operational capability.
The first engine test in ASTF was scheduled to begin in September 1986.
In more recent years, ASTF has been used to test F119 engines for the F-22A Raptor aircraft and F135 engines for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Turbofan engines such as the Rolls-Royce Trent 800 for the Boeing 777, the Trent 900 and GP7200 for the Airbus A380, the Pratt & Whitney 6000 for the Airbus A318, the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787, the XF7-10 for the Kawasaki P-1, and the BR725 for the Gulfstream G650 have been tested in ASTF.
| Date Taken: | 01.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2025 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 489200 |
| Location: | ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENNESSEE, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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