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In a flight test reminiscent of the early days of the historic X-15 program 50 years earlier, the X-51A Waverider was carried aloft for the first time over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 9 by an Air Force Flight Test Center B-52H Stratofortress. The "captive carry" test was a key milestone in preparation for the X-51 to light its supersonic combustion ramjet engine and propel the WaverRider at hypersonic speed for about 5 minutes, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. That flight test is currently planned in about two months, said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager with the...

The US Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A WaveRider scramjet engine demonstrator completed its first captive-carry flight under the wing of its B-52H mothership from Edwards AFB on Dec. 9. The first free flight is planned for mid-February. The B-52 climbed to the planned launch altitude of 50,000ft during a 1.4h flight that checked out systems and telemetry. The next flight, planned for mid-January, will be a full dress-rehearsal for the first of four planned X-51A hypersonic test flights. The Boeing-built X-51A will be released at 50,000ft over the Pacific and accelerated to Mach 4.5 by a solid rocket booster. The...

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force on Sept. 19 damaged a moving ground vehicle from the air using the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, completing ATL's first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a mobile target. During the test, the C-130H aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque and fired a high-power chemical laser through its beam control system while flying over White Sands Missile Range. The beam control system guided the laser beam's energy to the unoccupied, remotely controlled target, striking the vehicle and putting a hole in a fender. The test demonstrated the ability to aim...

A test-firing of a high-energy laser beam aboard a modified Boeing 747 has been called a success, the Missile Defense Agency said. A team from Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin conducted the Airborne Laser (ABL) test Tuesday over the California High Desert. The laser was fired into an onboard calorimeter, which captured the beam and measured its power. The test is preparation for an upcoming demonstration in which the laser will be fired through a nose-mounted turret on the aircraft toward the target. In a test Aug. 10, a low-power laser beam hit an instrument-equipped missile. "This test shows...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin test pilot died in an F-22A crash after nearly losing consciousness during a high-speed, high-g test maneuver, according to an Air Force accident investigation report released Friday. The $140 million jet, assigned to Edward Air Force Base's 412th Flight Test Wing, crashed during a mission to test the effects of carrying weapons on the aircraft's performance. These tests involved a series of high-speed, high-performance maneuvers in which the pilot experienced several times the force of gravity. The accident investigation concluded that Cooley experienced such disorientation brought on by the high g-forces, and recovered...

EDWARDS AFB - Some 120 representatives of solar energy firms turned out Tuesday to learn about an opportunity to lease as much as 3,280 acres of Edwards Air Force Base property for a solar power plant. The industry day, in which participants toured the site at the northwest corner of the base and learned about the lease procedures and project requirements, is the first step of a lengthy process that officials hope will result in a utility-grade solar power plant to supply energy to the public electrical grid. The project would operate under the Air Force's enhanced-use lease program, which...

PALMDALE - As even the chief test pilot admitted Friday, the concept of a flying wing bomber, an airplane without a tail or fuselage that would be invisible to radar, seemed impossible. But the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber proved them all wrong when the batwinged wonder took off for the first time from Northrop Grumman Corp.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42 on July 17, 1989. The moment marked "the dawn of a true revolution in air power," said Dave Mazur, Northrop Grumman's B-2 program manager. "It's an aircraft like no other." The bombers - and those who designed, built...

The latest version of the Global Hawk unmanned spy plane, equipped with more sophisticated and capable sensors, was unveiled Thursday to great fanfare by builder Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Air Force at the manufacturing site at Air Force Plant 42. "There's a demand that continues for unmanned systems, and we feel we're leading the way," said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president of High Altitude Long Endurance Systems and site manager for unmanned systems. "Global Hawk has really transformed itself since it began as an advanced development concept in the mid-1990s," he said. "I believe Global Hawk is going...

The first phase of testing for the rocket motor that will propel SpaceShipTwo into space is successfully completed, officials announced Thursday. Spacecraft developer Scaled Composites and rocket motor subcontractor SpaceDev completed the first test firings of the hybrid nitrous oxide propulsion system at a San Clemente test site, according to a release by commercial spaceline operator Virgin Galactic. Once operational, Space­Ship­Two will carry paying passengers as high as 360,000 feet above the Earth, offering a few minutes of weightlessness so the six passengers can float about a roomy cabin. The carrier aircraft that will air-launch the rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo, the White­KnightTwo,...

MOJAVE - The newest denizens of the Mojave Air and Space Port are an impressive sight, even for an airport accustomed to a variety of flying machines. A quartet of F-16 fighter jets - soon to be joined by a fifth - have taken up residence in a hangar located at the center of the flightline, a stone's throw from the popular Voyager restaurant. The jets form the test fleet of a new enterprise at the airport, Calspan BicycleWorks , a firm specializing in flight test and rapid prototyping. The company was founded about a year ago by Paul Nafziger,...

MOJAVE - The ear-splitting chorus of enthusiasm from more than 700 elementary school students echoed Friday across the Mojave Air and Space Port, punctuated periodically by the "whoosh" of a model rocket launch as participants cheered their entries in the Intermediate Space Challenge. The annual challenge pits teams of fourth- through sixth-grade classes in a competition to build a model rocket that reaches the highest point during launches conducted in the culminating event at the airport. Teams also are judged on their essays written on futuristic space-based businesses, banners and marketing strategy and team spirit. Joshua Middle School in Mojave...

MOJAVE - In addition to being the home for cutting-edge aerospace development, the Mojave Air and Space Port has a history as a location for filming, one it plans to promote further. Staff from the East Kern Airport District, which governs the airport, recently visited the Association of Film Commissioners International Locations Trade Show in Santa Monica. The event provides a chance for filming locations to present their wares to potential customers. "We didn't see anybody that showcased what we have here," district finance director Erika Westawski said. "We have this niche that nobody addressed." The airport offers runways, taxiways,...

MOJAVE - The unique, twin-fuselage WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft continued to expand the flight envelope with its third test flight, taking it higher, faster and for longer duration than the earlier two test flights. The aircraft is the prototype mothership for Virgin Galactic's nascent space tourism business, and will carry aloft the six-passenger SpaceShipTwo for suborbital spaceflights. In a two-and-a-half-hour test flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port on Wednesday, WhiteKnightTwo reached a maximum speed of 140 knots (161 mph) and reached an altitude of above 18,000 feet, according to a Virgin Galactic statement. The flight also successfully tested in-flight...

PALMDALE - The next step in hypersonic flight test is under development in a hangar at The Boeing Co.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42. The unmanned X-51A "Wave­Rider" is a scramjet engine flight demonstrator, expected to provide flight test data at speeds beyond Mach 6 - about one mile per second - using its unique engine design. In a scramjet - or supersonic combustion ramjet - engine, air is scooped into the engine duct, then forced through a combustion chamber, where fuel is mixed in and ignited. This produces energy, which is forced out the rear of the engine...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin pilot was killed Wednesday when an F-22A fighter jet on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base crashed near a desert gunnery range 35 miles northeast of Edwards. David Cooley, 49, of Lancaster, a Gulf War veteran who had been a Lockheed Martin test pilot since 2003 and before that spent 21 years in the Air Force, was taken by rescue crews to Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, where he was pronounced dead. Cooley's death was Edwards' first in a test flight in eight years. "This is a very difficult day...

A fascinating mix of start-ups and success-stories are flying out of the Mojave Air And Space Port. Enterprising pioneers Burt Rutan, Dave Masten, Rick Searfoss and others share their enthusiasm for Mojave.

While national home sales plummeted to their worst levels in 12 years, the Antelope Valley bucked the trend and saw its numbers soar well into triple-digit gains. High desert home sales began the new year with a sizzling start, rising 238% in January over January 2008, while the nation as a whole saw its home sales drop 8.6%. For the nation, it was the weakest sales showing since July 1997. "It's location, location, location - to put it in the simplest terms," Sam Hare, a past president of the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors, said of the difference between...

EDWARDS AFB - The base that first broke the sound barrier is once again pushing the boundaries of flight test, this time with sustained flight at hypersonic speeds. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base is responsible for the upcoming flight test of the X-51, a vehicle designed to travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. The project takes on special meaning as no hypersonic project has made it to the flight test phase in a number of years, he said. The last one - also from Edwards - was NASA's X-43A,...

EDWARDS AFB - After a two-year hiatus, the Edwards Air Force Base Open House and Air Show returns this fall. The popular event will return in a two-day format on Oct. 17 and 18. Base officials decided against having the event the past two years while the main base runway was undergoing reconstruction. The open house and air show typically takes place in October and is one chance for the base - home to the world's premier flight test center - to open its gates to the general public and demonstrate its strengths and role in military testing and flight...

PALMDALE - Employment at Air Force Plant 42 picked up during the last six months of 2008, thanks primarily to hiring at Northrop Grumman Corp. That hiring trend is expected to continue as the company ramps up development of the Navy's unmanned demonstrator aircraft, the X-47B, and production of the F-35 joint strike fighter. "We did hit our staffing target last year; however, we're still looking to add another 500 people by the end of the year," Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said. The Air Force production flight test facility reported employment of 7,039 at the various contractor sites, up from...