An Overview of U.S. Army Developmental Flight Testing

摘要

Within the U.S. Army's Test and Evaluation Enterprise, the organization chartered to plan, execute, and report the results of developmental flight testing is the Aviation Flight Test Directorate, based at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. The Directorate conducts a broad spectrum of developmental flight test activities, including fixed- and rotary-wing, manned and unmanned aircraft. Recent flight test programs in support of warfighting and transformation requirements include the AH-64D Longbow Apache Block 3, CH-47F Chinook, UH-60M Black Hawk, and C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft. The Directorate also conducts airworthiness qualification testing for new and modified aircraft systems, such as Aircraft Survivability Equipment, as integrated on various aircraft types. Directorate personnel regularly deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan to assist Aviation Brigade Commanders with their initial combat employment of new and highly-modified aviation materiel. The Directorate has successfully partnered with the U.S. Air Force to support testing of search and rescue aircraft and occasionally provides artificial icing test support to other government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. The Directorate's immediate higher headquarters, the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center, conducts component, sub-system, and system-level developmental testing for aviation, missile, and sensor systems. The test center is a critical component of the Army's Aviation Technology Center of Excellence, also based at Redstone Arsenal, which synchronizes research, development, acquisition, test, evaluation, and sustainment activities in support of the Army Aviation Materiel Enterprise.