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  • Rapid Raven 24-1: Posturing EMS warfighters for combat

    In order to establish readiness and further operationalize the wing, the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing went into a warfighting posture during Rapid Raven 24-1, its first internal exercise designed to test its ability to wage war in the Electromagnetic Spectrum and meet combat requirements and

  • For the Warfighter: Operational Test advances at NE21

    As Northern Edge 21 concludes, the 53rd Wing is returning home having achieved major test objectives for multiple weapons systems May 3-14, 2021. In addition to F-15EX deep end testing and B-52 long-range kill chain milestones for hypersonic weapons, the 53d Wing’s F-35s, MQ-9s, F-15Cs and F-15Es,

  • Project Strike Rodeo: F-15E loaded with five JASSMs

    The 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron completed a munitions proof-of-concept called Project Strike Rodeo, May 11, 2021, that validated loading five AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) on an F-15E Strike Eagle. This lays the foundation for follow-on flight testing that would more

  • B-52 Hypersonic Kill Chain Employment Success

    A B-52 Stratofortress from the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, conducted a successful simulated hypersonic kill chain employment from sensor to shooter and back during Northern Edge 21, May 5, 2021.

  • F-15C records longest known missile shot

    The 28th Test and Evaluation Squadron partnered with the 83d Fighter Weapons Squadron to execute the longest known air-to-air missile shot to date during March 2021.

  • The future of test: Black Flag

    General Mark D. Kelly signed COMACC Plan 21 on December 15, 2020, effectively formalizing the 53rd Wing’s Large Force Test Events into “Black Flag” – an event solely focused on test and tactics development in a realistic, massed force, fully integrated, high threat density environment. Established

  • “As goes the 53rd Wing, so goes the Air Force”

    Gen. Mark Kelly, commander of Air Combat Command, and Chief Master Sgt. David Wade, ACC command chief, visited the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Nov. 23-24, 2020. Their visit with 53rd Wing Airmen showcased test, evaluation, and mission data reprogramming, highlighting the wing’s drive

  • Large Force Test Event 20.03 sets standard for future test events

    Large Force Test Events 20.03 integrated ten weapons systems, including the F-35, F-22, F-15E, F-16, A-10, E/A-18G, HH-60G, EC-130H, KC-46, and KC-135, from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy on November 17, 2020 to test four Tactics Improvement Proposals, known as TIPs, as well as various high

  • Virtual training center leverages enhanced warfighter capabilities

    The Air Force relies on forward-thinking Airmen who are constantly thinking of ways to innovate, refine or improve processes and technology in a way that can modernize the service and its tactics. Nellis Airmen have heard, and answered, that call, and so with the snip of a ribbon, on Aug. 17 the

  • Jolly Green II begins aerial refueling tests

    The HH-60W Jolly Green II connected with a HC-130J tanker for the first ever aerial refueling by the Air Force’s new combat search and rescue helicopter, Aug. 5. This connection marked the start of two weeks of developmental testing of the aircraft’s aerial refueling abilities by 413th Flight Test

  • NEWS RELEASE: MQ-9A ABBREVIATED ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION RELEASED

    Release No: 05112017-1Date: May 11, 2017A pilot’s misprioritization of checklist tasks and failure to observe aircraft warnings led to the crash of an MQ-9A Reaper remotely-piloted aircraft on the Nevada Test and Training Range June 7, 2016, according to an Air Combat Command Abbreviated Accident

  • Raptors converge on F-22 CTF as it prepares to move

    Just after the turn of the century, it wasn’t unusual to see seven F-22A Raptors parked around the 411th Flight Test Squadron compound during the fighter’s early developmental test and evaluation days.Today, the 411th and F-22 Combined Test Force has just four of the fifth-generation fighters left –

  • 633 mph -- nothing to mach

    “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…” A steady voice reads through a crackling radio atop a roughly hewn 2x4 wooden shelf, adding lumber to the smells of coffee and aftershave inside the enclosed trailer. Red LED numbers attached to the radio flash their faint light as they drop toward zero.  “…five,