The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, held a ribbon- cutting ceremony on December 7 for the opening of the new High-Power Electromagnetic, or HPEM, Effects and Modeling Facility, a 12,000-square-foot, $6 million project.
The new facility with 30 office spaces, a secure area and a nearly 4,000-square-foot high bay laboratory will enhance AFRL’s world-class status as a leading HPEM science and technology organization.
“This new facility will allow for greater collaboration as we advance our nation’s directed energy technologies,” said Kenneth Miller, chief of the High- Power Electromagnetics Division of AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate. “We have the world’s brightest innovators working here, and this state-of-the-art facility will give them the infrastructure they deserve.”
QA Engineering, LLC, an engineering and construction firm in Albuquerque, worked with AFRL to ensure the facility met all requirements and warfighter needs.
“The HPEM Effects and Modeling Facility includes test beds for benchtop electronic component testing, anechoic chambers for free-field radiation testing of electronic systems and a circuit board forensics lab for determining fault mechanisms of electronic components,” said Dr. Michael Lambrecht, chief engineer of AFRL’s High- Power Electromagnetics Division. “It also features high-performance computing for modeling and simulation of HPEM sources, energy propagation, and mission effectiveness of high-powered microwave systems.” microwave systems.”
The new space will be used for planning, developing, prototyping, testing and deploying high-powered radio frequency weapons systems in addition to co-locating an entire branch of personnel.
“Enabling our staff to work from the same location will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of research and system integration, provide robust collaboration opportunities and enable demonstration of rapid response capabilities,” Miller said.
Source: AFRL
Like IC News? Then please consider subscribing. You’ll get full access to our searchable library of 10,000+ articles, plus new articles each weekday.
By 
