Air Force Materiel Command’s Arnold Engineering Development Center is running tests on the F118-100 GE engine—the power plant for the Air Force’s B-2 bomber fleet—to ensure the new components of a service life extension program have no detrimental effect on the engine. The engine performance, say officials, should be the same as it has been, but the revamped engines should have improved sustainability and supportability. So far, so good, they say, noting that they met more objectives on the first run than anticipated. They expect to complete 90 hours of run time through the end of March. AEDC ran similar tests on a refurbished U-2 engine, completing tests ahead of schedule.
Clearing jungle and laying asphalt in tropical heat may not sound like fun to most people, but it’s a way of life for Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) Airmen, who have spent the past year or so restoring World War II-era airfields on the Pacific…