Major T&E Investment

Major T&E Investment falls under the Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) Management Support budget activity of the Air Force. The primary goal of this program is to provide planning, improvements, and modernization for test capabilities within the Air Force Test Center (AFTC) Major Range and Test Facility Base organizations. This includes the 96 Test Wing at Eglin AFB FL, the 412 Test Wing at Edwards AFB CA, and Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) at Arnold AFB TN. The program aims to enhance test capabilities to support testing through all phases of weapon system acquisition, from system concept exploration through operational test. Specific objectives include T&E Range Asset Modernization, Hypersonics testing, Directed Energy/Electronic Combat capabilities, Cyberspace and Avionics Cyber advancements, and Autonomy testing.

The program's funding is allocated to six mission area categories: T&E Range Asset Modernization, Hypersonics, Directed Energy/Electronic Combat, Cyberspace and Avionics Cyber, Autonomy, and Space Test Infrastructure. These categories encompass specific objectives such as acquiring the ability to test long-range weapons in crowded and restricted spectrums with realistic threat scenarios at multiple classification levels; testing flight-representative hypersonic engines and materials; characterizing irradiance and beam properties on aircraft and ground targets for Directed Energy/Electronic Combat; advancing cybersecurity/resiliency test capability for network platforms; and testing autonomous aerial and ground systems with artificial intelligence. The program also includes planned projects such as the Non-Cooperative Tracking/Multi-Object Tracking phase I (NCT-1) project at the 412th Test Wing.