Edwards Expands Test Capabilities With T-7A Distributed Test Operations

During this time of continued Air Force Innovation, the T-7A Test Team of the Air Force’s new pilot trainer, the T-7A Red Hawk, has developed innovative ways to maintain the Air Force Test Center’s level of excellence in support of the T-7A Test Program. The T-7A Test Team executed Distributed Test Operations (DTO) in a Mission Control Room at Ridley Mission Control Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Rebecca Mitchell, T-7A Lead Flight Test Engineer, 416th Flight Test Squadron, watches real-time flight telemetry of a remote T-7A Red Hawk test flight from the Boeing flight test center in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Ridley Mission Control Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California. U.S. Air Force photo by Giancarlo Casem.

“This capability will permit subject matter experts fromAFTC and Boeing to work together to provide expertise on high-risk testing fromcontrol rooms in two different locations,” said Rebecca Mitchell, T-7A LeadFlight Test Engineer, 416th Flight Test Squadron. “The addition of a secondcontrol room also increases the number of seats available for any givenmission, improving our ability to train new engineers.”

DTO allows engineers within Ridley to view real-time flighttests from remote locations. The latest test took place approximately 1600miles away in St. Louis, Missouri. Engineers on Edwards were able to watchvideo and view flight telemetry real-time.

The 412th Range Squadron enabled DTO by establishing aDefense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) connection between RidleyMission Control Center at Edwards and the Boeing flight test facility in St.Louis.

The DTO project began in June 2019, during Boeing’s firstphase of flight testing the T-7A Red Hawk. With the need for the Edwards’ T-7A Test Team to participate in testactivities in St Louis, pilots and engineers from Edwards would be required totravel to the Boeing facility for weeks at a time, removing their expertisefrom other critical test efforts at Edwards.

The 412th RANS Range Engineering team, under the technicalleadership of Bill Rauch and Darryl Watkins, collaborated with Boeing and the416th FLTS, the T-7A Lead Developmental Test organization, to evaluate DTOrequirements for telemetry, voice and video connectivity. They assembled andsuccessfully tested all equipment in the 412 RANS Engineering lab, thendeployed, tested and completed initial operation of the T-7A link in earlyMarch.

“We then worked with Boeing to develop processes for ourday-to-day DTO operations, such as transferring the software files required tooperate our data displays in the Edwards AFB control rooms,” Mitchell said. “Wedid an initial checkout where the control rooms were connected and we did aplayback of a completed test flight. The combined test team performed our firstreal-time DTO mission with engineers at both test locations today.”

In the name of test efficiency and cost savings, the DRENconnection enables the Edwards’ T-7A Test Team to support safe and effectiveflight test activities with aircraft telemetered data and voice communicationfor real time remotely executed flight test.

The test team also includes the Air Force Operational Testand Evaluation Center’s Detachment 5.

“AFOTEC is the Operational Test Agency for the T-7 program,”said Master Sgt. Kyle Quigley, T-7A Operational Test Team Deputy Test Director,AFOTEC Det. 5. “We represent the warfighter’s viewpoint within the integratedtest team and strive to provide relevant and timely feedback to the programoffice and AETC (Air and Education Training Command).”

Testing for the T-7A Red Hawk is expected to relocate toEdwards in the Fall for the second phase of flight tests, and Boeing engineerswill be able to support the T-7A program in St. Louis while the aircraft fliesover the airspace at Edwards. Significant time and cost savings will berealized by reducing the travel requirements for the test team, in addition todecreasing T-7A Test Team members’ separation from their families, Mitchellsaid.

“Before COVID-19, our T-7 test team maintained a constantpresence in St. Louis to observe missions, with engineers spending up to 50percent of their time TDY (temporary duty assignment) in St. Louis,” Mitchellsaid. “This travel burden was a significant financial cost to the test program,and it put a lot of strain on our test team and their families. DTO will allowus to stay involved in flight test operations in St. Louis withoutoverburdening our engineers with travel.”

Mitchell, Quigley and other members of the test team believeDTO could have wider-spread use in the overall testing enterprise past therecent COVID-19 travel restrictions.

“I see DTO being a large benefit across the test enterpriseafter COVID-19 because it will greatly reduce the amount of travel needed tomonitor testing at remote sites,” Quigley said. “For systems where the testingis being performed by the primary contractor, increased oversight from thegovernment test community will make it easier to validate contractor testingand reduce the amount of developmental testing that needs to be repeated.”