Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review, April 29, 2022

Armstrong’s ER-2 returns to flight after three years of modifications
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NASA photographs by Carla Thomas
Above: NASA’s ER-2 No. 806 returns to flying high-altitude on April 7, 2022, after three years of heavy maintenance. NASA Armstrong operates two ER-2 aircraft to collect information about Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and oceanic processes. Right: NASA pilot Greg “Coach” Nelson prepared for flight on the ER-2 by air crew life support at Armstrong Flight Research Center on April 7, 2022.
by Elana Johnson
NASA Armstrong
After three years of significant modifications and heavy maintenance, NASA’s ER-2 high altitude aircraft, No. 806, has returned to flight.
Flying from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Bldg. 703, the ER-2 conducted its first low-level flight on March 21, 2022, since it was disassembled in October 2018.
During the maintenance period, pilot safety was enhanced through the Cockpit Altitude Reduction Effort, or CARE. The modification allows the pilot to safely operate the ER-2 by reducing effective cockpit altitude from 29,000 feet to 15,000 feet altitude when operating at 65,000 feet. Changing the altitude in the cockpit significantly reduces the possibility of decompression sickness.
Another important modification to the ER-2 utilizes the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. The installa- tion of the ADS-B system makes flying the ER-2 safer by allowing the pilot increased traffic situational awareness. The ADS-B system also brings the ER-2 in compliance with the Federal Aviation Agency and the International Civil Aviation Organization to operate in the national and international airspace.
Following a series of check flights on April 7, the ER-2 resumed flying missions for NASA’s Earth Science Division.
NASA Armstrong operates two ER-2 aircraft to collect information about Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and oceanic processes. The aircraft fly as high as 70,000 feet, and are also used for electronic sensor research and development, satel- lite calibration, and satellite data validation.
BAF, from 1
The BAF has a highly sophisticated Com- bat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator. Virtually any RF threat system or friendly RF emitter can be generated for free-space radia- tion - offering the most cost-effective means of testing and validating effectiveness of sophis- ticated Electronic Warfare/Information Op- erations systems (RWR, ESM, ECM, ELINT, SIGINT, Radar and other RF systems) against today’s threats and emerging threats not yet available at open-air ranges.
“This whole chamber basically emulates free space open air. And you can do things in the
chamber that you can’t do in an open air range: for security purposes, for flexibility purposes,” Woodhull said. “We can get a lot of test points done in a very short amount of time here.”
“This test here is for the C-130 radio fre- quency countermeasures program, which will be installed on a lot of AFSOC aircraft,” said Woodhull. “We’re going to be testing a lot of the electromagnetic interference and checking a lot of antenna patterns.”
Woodhull explained that his team will be conducting “source victim testing” to make sure that the host aircraft is not interfering with
itself when electronic warfare countermeasures are activated.
“We’re going to turn on one system on the aircraft and other system could be listening — we don’t want those conflicting with each other,” he added. “We’re just going to make sure that everything works together as it’s sup- posed to.”
With the C-130’s mission set within the 1st SOW, increasing the aircraft’s survivabil- ity and lethality is a vital task and the BAF at Edwards AFB is a one-of-a-kind facility for a one-of-a-kind aircraft.
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