List of aerospace flight test centres

Flight test centers around the world all have similar missions: to conduct flight research and testing of new aircraft concepts and prototypes. Notable centers are listed below (by year of foundation):[1][2]

Government establishments

• U.K. Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, based at Boscombe Down, England (founded 1917)
• U.S. Navy Air Warfare Test Center, based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, United States (founded 1918, as the Navy's Flight Test Group based at Naval Air Station Anacostia)
• Swedish Armed Forces Flight Test and Evaluation Center (FMV:PROV is a part of FMV), based at Linköping, Sweden (founded 1933)[3]
• Italian Air Force Flight Test Center (Reparto Sperimentale di Volo), based at Pratica di Mare (founded 1935) [4]
• Russian State Flight Research and Test Center, based at Zhukovsky, Russia (founded 1941)
• I.N.T.A. Spanish Aerospace Research and Test Center, based at Torrejón de Ardoz, Community of Madrid, Spain (founded 1942)
• CLAEX Spanish Air Force Experimentation Center, based at Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain (founded 1992)[5]
• U.S. Air Force Test Center, based at Edwards Air Force Base, California, United States (founded 1942, as the new location of 477th Air Base Headquarters and Test Squadron)
• Flight Test Center (CEV) of the French Ministry of Armed Forces (CEV is a part of Directorate General of Armaments ), based at 217 Air Base in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France (founded 1945)
• NASA Flight Research Center, based at Edwards Air Force Base, California, United States (founded 1946, as the Muroc Flight Test Unit)
• NRC Institute for Aerospace Research, based at Ottawa and Montreal, Canada[6][7] (founded 1951, as the National Aeronautical Establishment - NAE)[8]
• Brazilian Air Force Flight Testing and Research Institute (part of CTA), São José dos Campos, Brazil (founded 1953)[9]
• Japan Air Self-Defense Force Flight Test Center, based at Gifu Air Field, Japan (founded 1955)
• DLR German Aerospace Research and Test Center, based at Braunschweig, Germany (founded 1956)
• WTD 61 German Armed Forces Flight Test Center, based at Manching, Germany (founded 1957 as Testing Center for Military Aerial Equipment at Oberpfaffenhofen)[10]
• Indian Air Force Test Pilot School, Bangalore, India (founded 1957)
• U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center, currently based at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, United States (founded 1957, as the U.S. Army Aviation Test Board based at Fort Rucker)[11][12]
• China Flight Test Establishment, based at Xi'an, China (founded 1959)[13][14]
• Swiss Air Force Flight Test Center (aviation branch of the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement), based at Emmen Air Base, Emmen, Switzerland (founded 1964)
• Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, based at Cold Lake, Alberta, and Ottawa,[15] Ontario, Canada (founded 1967, as the Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Test and Evaluation Squadron No. 448)[16]
• Israeli Air Force Flight Test Center (Manat), based at Tel Nof Airbase, Rehovot (founded 1978)[17]
• JAXA Flight Research Center, based at Chofu Aerodrome,[18] Nagoya Airfield and Taiki Aerospace Research Field[19]

Corporate establishments

• CASA Flight Test Center, based at the Getafe Air Base, Spain (founded 1924)
• SAAB Flight Test Center, based at Linköping, Sweden (founded 1932)
• BAE Systems Flight Test Center, based at Warton Aerodrome, England (founded 1947)
• Airbus Defence and Space Flight Test Center, based at Manching, Germany (founded 1962, as the Messerschmitt Company Flight Test Center)[20]
• Sikorsky Development Flight Center, based at West Palm Beach, Florida, United States (founded 1977)[21]
• TCOM Corporation production and flight test site (including the historic Weeksville Dirigible Hangar) for development of lighter-than-air technologies and testing airships, located at the former Naval Air Station Weeksville in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, United States (founded 1986)[22][23]
• Bombardier Aerospace Flight Test Center (BFTC), based at the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, Wichita, Kansas, United States (founded 1991, as reconstruction of the acquired in 1990 Learjet facility)[24][25]
• Embraer Flight Test Center, based at Embraer Unidade aerodrome, Gavião Peixoto, Brazil (founded 2001)[26]
• Bell Flight Research Center, based at Arlington, Texas, United States[27]
• IAI Flight Test Center, based at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel[28]

See also

• List of test pilot schools

References

1. "Featured Issue". The ITEA Journal. 19 (2). ITEA. 1998. ISSN 1054-0229.
2. "Annex I : European Flight Test Centres". Society of Flight Test Engineers - European Chapter biannual brochure. Delft: SFTE. 1999. pp. 38–103.
3. "Linköping Flight Test Center, Sweden" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-12-31.
4. "Reparto Sperimentale di Volo". www.aeronautica.difesa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-09-06.
5. "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
6. "Institute for Aerospace Research (NRC-IAR)". find.canadamakes.ca. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
7. "National Research Council Canada | Institute for Aerospace Research | Highlights". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
8. Canada, Government of Canada National Research Council (2011-10-03). "ARCHIVED - Celebrating 60 years of aerospace research - National Research Council Canada". www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
9. "Embraer 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). SURPERFORMANCE SAS. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
10. "WTD 61 (Technical Test Facility 61) Manching Germany". Retrieved 2020-07-26.
11. Aviation Technical Test Center History.
12. Matthews, Nora R. (1998). "U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center : Fort Rucker, Alabama". The ITEA Journal. 19 (2). ITEA: 16–17. ISSN 1054-0229.
13. "Aviation Industries of China (AVIC)". Retrieved 2018-12-28.
14. "Yanliang Airbase - China Military Forces". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
15. Defence, National (2021-02-05). "Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment achieves Initial Operational Capability of the Engineering Flight Test Rationalization". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
16. "Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment - Archeion". www.archeion.ca. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
17. Norton, Bill (2004). Air War on the Edge - A History of the Israel Air Force and its Aircraft since 1947. Midland Publishing. ISBN 1857800885.
18. "JAXA | Headquarters Office / Chofu Aerospace Center". JAXA | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
19. "Flight test facilities of the JAXA Aeronautical Technology Directorate". JAXA. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
20. Spitz, Wilfried; Neubauer, Thomas (1998). "Flight Test Center : Manching, Germany". The ITEA Journal. 19 (2). ITEA: 14–15. ISSN 1054-0229.
21. "Sikorsky Development Flight Center". Retrieved 2019-02-09.
22. Stein, Kenneth J. (July 14, 1986). "Westinghouse/Airships Industries joint venture targets Navy program". Aviation Week & Space Technology: 144, 145, 147, 149.
23. "TCOM Facilities". TCOM Corp. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
24. Reynolds, Peter T.; Ranaudo, Richard J. (2000-10-10). "The Bombardier Flight Test Center - Meeting the Challenge". SAE Technical Papers Series. SAE.
25. Siebenmark, Jerry. "Third Bombardier Global 7000 test jet arrives in Wichita". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
26. "EMBRAER UNIDADE GAVIAO PEIXOTO -- SBGP". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
27. "Bell shows off newly expanded Arlington Flight Research Center". Fortworthbusiness.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
28. "The IAI Flight Test Center". iai.co.il. Retrieved 2021-04-18.