• New AC-130J completes first test flight

    After more than a year of modification maintenance, the newly created AC-130J Ghostrider took to the skies for the first time as a gunship here Jan. 31.In early Jan 2013, the Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130J arrived here to begin the modification process with the goal of creating a "best

  • Seek Eagle analyst to retire after 51 years

    Ronald McCurdy, a ballistics analyst for mission planning at the 96th Test Wing's Seek Eagle office, retires from civil service Jan. 31, with 51 years of combined military and civilian service.McCurdy joined civil service in 1983, after serving as an Air Force navigator from 1962 to 1982. He reached

  • 53rd squadron receives first air-droppable rescue vehicle

    The 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron received the first set of Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicles in the Air Force's inventory Nov. 12.The GAARV is a multi-purpose utility vehicle intended to help combat search and rescue teams retrieve individuals that have been isolated and can expand

  • Brawn behind the QF-16 spearhead AF aerial target drone program

    (Editor's note: This is part two of two in a series of articles focused on the QF-16 software development and testing. In part one, we looked at the "brains" behind the QF-16, how Eglin engineers develop cutting edge 4th gen aerial target drone software. In part two we look at the "brawn" behind the

  • Brains behind the QF-16 spearhead AF aerial target drone program

    (Editor's note: This is part one of two in a series of articles focused on the QF-16 software development and testing. In part one, we look at the "brains" behind the QF-16, how Eglin engineers develop cutting edge 4th gen aerial target drone software. In part two we look at the "brawn" behind the

  • 96 TW tests new warhead on high-speed track

    The Defense Department announced yesterday the successful testing of an advanced conventional precision effects warhead, a critical part of a national effort to establish a conventional prompt strike capability. This capability will contribute to the country to defend its interests with precision

  • Marines fly first F-35 STOVL mission at Eglin

    The 33rd Fighter Wing and the F-35 Lightning II program reached a new milestone when Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501 completed its first short take-off and vertical landing mission here Oct. 24. Maj. Brendan M. Walsh flew the hour-long mission in which the aircraft remained in the STOVL

  • 96 TW surpasses 2,000 sled test missions

    The 96th Test Wing recently reached a historic testing milestone this summer. The 2,000th sled test mission was conducted at the 96th TW's Kinetic Energy Munitions Test Facility at the Eglin Test and Training Complex Test Area C-74. The 2,000th test was conducted in support of fuze development for

  • B-1 conducts first live-fire test of anti-ship missile

    A B-1B Lancer successfully struck a waterborne target with a live warhead for the first time Aug. 27. The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron, the 53rd Wing's B-1 test and evaluation squadron, completed their first of three scheduled live-fire tests of a Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, or LRASM,

  • F-35: New fighter creates new culture for 21st Century and beyond

    She didn't have a smudge on her. Not a leak found anywhere. She even had that "new jet smell." Skies were blue, everything was perfect. Those were the conditions on that July day in 2011 when Lt. Col. Eric Smith took off from the Lockheed facilities at Fort Worth, Texas, in the first operational