EAFB HAS FULL ROSTER OF PROGRAMS IN STORE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - With a full roster of manned and unmanned combat aircraft to test, Edwards Air Force Base is entering into an era similar to its golden age of the 1950s, the base's vice commander said Wednesday.

In a speech before the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce, Col. William Coutts gave an overview of current and upcoming projects that include jet fighters, special-operations aircraft, and a laser-wielding, anti-missile aircraft.

``Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson (Edwards' commander) has likened this time period to the time frame of the 1950s,'' said Coutts, an F-16 fighter pilot who is now vice commander of Edwards' Air Force Flight Test Center. ``It's a great time out at Edwards.''

Edwards' biggest test program at present is for the F-22 Raptor, a fast, stealthy successor to the F-15 Eagle. The base now has seven F-22s in its test force, which employs several hundred workers.

The base just received one of its test aircraft back from a climatic testing laboratory where it was subjected to temperatures ranging from 64 degrees below zero to 130 degrees above.

The Air Force is planning to redesignate the fighter to F/A-22, reflecting its ground-attack capability.

The base is preparing to receive in December the airborne-laser aircraft, a modified jetliner outfitted with a nose turret to house a laser weapon. Recently it made its first series of flights in Wichita, Kan.

Coutts showed an video animation of the airborne laser tracking and destroying Scud-type missiles shortly after launch.

The aircraft will be at Edwards for at least two or three years and work will include firing at a simulated Scud-type missile.

One flight test program, the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, is returning to flight-test status after an 18-month safety review and modification effort. The aircraft, whose tilt-rotor design allows it to fly like a regular aircraft and hover like a helicopter, returned to flight testing Sept. 11.

The Sept. 11 date was appropriate, Coutts said, considering that one of the aircraft's missions will be deploying and picking up special-operations troops - troops at the forefront of the war on terrorism.

Another aircraft returning to flight testing this month is the Global Hawk, an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft had been grounded since a July crash in Pakistan.

An investigation into the crash has been completed and the aircraft will resume flying next week, Coutts said.

Edwards is also working on a joint project with the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the flight testing of an unmanned fighter, the X-45A. The aircraft is being developed to perform high-risk missions, such as taking out enemy radar and anti-aircraft missile installations.

Edwards officials are beginning to plan for the arrival of the joint strike fighter program. The first test aircraft should arrive at the base in about three years.

Coutts is new to Edwards, having taken over the vice commander's post in June after commanding a fighter support organization at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Coutts referred to himself as a ``test case,'' having no aircraft-test background.

``Gen. John Jumper (Air Force Chief of Staff) and Maj. Gen. Pearson got together and decided we needed more operational experience in the test world and more test and evaluation experience in the operational world,'' Coutts said. ``When I finish my assignment here I will return to the operational world and be a spokesman for the test and evaluation community.''

Coutts graduated from the Air Force Academy with a bachelor's degree in history in 1980 and has logged more than 3,000 hours of flying, primarily in the F-16, T-37 and F-111.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Col. William Coutts speaks to the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

(2) Speaking before the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Col William Coutts, vice commander of Edwards Air Force Base, discusses some of the base's current and upcoming projects, including testing the F-22 Raptor.Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer