Electronic warfare testing at the Benefield anechoic facility

Abstract

This paper discusses the test capabilities of the Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF) and its mission to support avionics and electronic warfare (EW) test and evaluation (T&E) of current and future generation manned and unmanned aerospace vehicles. Testing at the BAF can provide the dense, complex, and realistic signal environment necessary to evaluate integrated systems/subsystems to meet both Development Test and Evaluation (DT&E) and Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) objectives. The BAF, located at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards Air Force Base, is part of the Avionics Test and Integration Complex (ATIC). The BAF is capable of supporting full-scale aerospace vehicles; such as, the F-3 Tornado, F-16, F-15, C-130, C-17, bombers, attack aircraft, and trainers and their associated EW systems. The BAF provides a quiet, secure, and controlled electromagnetic environment to test installed/integrated systems, their associated weapons, avionics and EW systems. This testing is accomplished within a very large anechoic chamber, providing a realistic free-space and controllable radio frequency (RF) environment. The BAF is an ideal ground test facility to investigate and evaluate anomalies associated with EW systems; avionics, tactical missiles, and their host platform. The BAF experience in EW evaluation includes, but is not limited to: electromagnetic interference (EMI)/electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), antenna pattern measurement, angle-of-arrival (AOA) measurement, electronic countermeasures (ECM) response and EW avionics integration.