The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Material Command facility under the control of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Named for General Henry H. Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force, AEDC is the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world. Headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, the complex also operates from geographically separated units at Ames Research Center, Mountain View and Edwards AFB, California; Peterson AFB, Colorado; Eglin AFB, Florida; the Federal Research Center at White Oak, Maryland; Holloman AFB, Kirtland AFB, and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Hill AFB, Utah. AEDC operates more than 68 test facilities, including, but not limited to, aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, sled tracks, centrifuges, and other specialized test units. AEDC conducts developmental testing and evaluation through modeling, simulation, ground, and flight testing. The complex supports testing for a wide range of customers in the aerospace and defense industries, including, but not limited to, Air Force, Navy, Army, Missile Defense Agency and NASA. Testing aims to evaluate aircraft, missile, and space systems/subsystems at the flight conditions they will experience during a mission. The complex aims to be the best value U.S. ground test and analysis source for aerospace and defense systems.
Staff agencies Test Division Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex AEDC Sea Level Test Cells Aero-propulsion Systems Test Facility AEDC Engine Test Facility Propulsion Wind Tunnel Ground Test Complex Propulsion Wind Tunnel Facility Von Karman Gas Dynamics Facility Space and Missile Ground Test Complex AEDC Space Chambers Test Facility High-Enthalpy Arc Heated Facility Aero-ballistic Range Facility Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit Maintenance Division Support Asset Branch Test Asset Branch Mission Support Division Communications Branch Civil Engineer Branch Services Test Systems Division Technology Branch Investments Branch Management Operations
Environmental issues Several areas of the facility are contaminated by substances including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and volatile organic compounds and spills of jet and rocket fuel, chlorofluorocarbon solvents, nitric acid and other materials. PCBs from the site have been detected in local creeks, in the water, sediment and in fish. The site was proposed for addition to the Superfund National Priorities List in August 1994 though, as of May 2010, the site has not been added to the NPL. The Environmental Protection Agency believes that human exposure to contaminants and contaminated groundwater migration are under control.
External facilities The Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 is located in Silver Spring, Maryland The National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) is located at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. The NFAC was closed by NASA in 2003. In February 2006, AEDC entered into an agreement with NASA to lease the facility for a period of up to 25 years. McKinley Climatic Laboratory, Eglin AFB, Florida 704th Test Group, Holloman Air Force Base. Colonel Karl Seekamp officially took command of the 704th Test Group at Holloman Air Force Base during a ceremony on 9 September 2022. Detachment 1 operates the National Radar Cross Section Test Facility. The group consists of three squadrons, including the 716th Test Squadron, 1 June 2006 – 30 June 2010. Other Testing Facilities at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and at Wright-Patterson AFB
History The Air Engineering Development Center was authorized by an act of the 81st Congress, Public Law 415, approved 27 Oct. 1949 (Appendix 2). On 7 March 1950, the Air Engineering Development Center was redesignated the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) effective 10 February 1950, per General Order #23, signed by then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Hoyt S. Vandenberg. Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) was later redesignated Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) on 6 July 2012. The complex is a part of a master unitary wind tunnel plan that is designated to provide the testing "tools" required to assure the United States continued air and space supremacy. The necessity for an aeronautical test complex of this type was recognized by a number of different agencies of the government, as well as by expert technical groups from the industrial-scientific world. The creation of these research and testing facilities has enabled the U.S. to stay abreast of developments in this fast-moving field. AEDC is one of the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world with a replacement value of more than $7.8 billion. At one time or another, the center has operated 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges and other specialized units. Twenty-seven of the center's test units have capabilities unmatched elsewhere in the United States; 14 are unique in the world. Facilities can simulate flight conditions from sea level to 300 miles' altitude and from subsonic velocities to Mach 14. AEDC's mission is to:
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