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 Flight Research Laboratory, 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

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2. "Annex I : European Flight Test Centres". Society of Flight Test Engineers - European Chapter biannual brochure. Delft: SFTE. 1999. pp. 38–103.
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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.
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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.
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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.