Arnold Engineering Development Complex

Arnold Engineering Development Complex
An F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter model in the Arnold Engineering Development Center's 16-foot transonic wind tunnel
Active	1950–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Test facility
Part of	Air Force Test Center Air Force Materiel Command
Garrison/HQ	Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee
Nickname(s)	AEDC
Patron	Gen Henry "Hap" Arnold
Decorations	Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Commanders
Commander	Col Rodney F. Todaro
Executive Director	Dr. Mark A. Mehalic
Insignia
Arnold Engineering Development Complex emblem

Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, located at Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee is a ground-based flight test facility operated by the Air Force Test Center.

The AEDC mission is to test and evaluate aircraft, missile and space systems and subsystems at the flight conditions they will experience during a mission; conduct a research and technology program to develop advanced testing techniques and instrumentation and to support the design of new test facilities and maintain and modernize the center’s existing test facilities.

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.

As a consultant to General Arnold, Theodore von Kármán first called for the Center:

The center operates 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, and other specialized units. Currently, AEDC's prime contractor is the Aerospace Testing Alliance.