Empowered Airmen

We live in a world that is driven by rapidly changing technology and an environment that includes aggressive and capable global competitors. Airmen are key to cutting unnecessary bureaucracy, recognizing and understanding our competition, and thinking of creative ways we can reshape the design of our Air Force. The Air Force must accelerate, must change, and must prepare for the future!

This page is dedicated towards highlighting the accomplishments of our talented Airmen at all levels and to show the impact they can make when they are informed and empowered to problem solve and make smart recommendations and decisions.

Accelerate Change or Lose graphic — EMPOWERED AIRMEN ACCELERATE CHANGE ACROSS AIR FORCE

ACC leads radical change to USAF fleet maintenance, management

Air Combat Command is leading efforts to overhaul how the U.S. Air Force does aircraft maintenance and fleet management this spring.

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Empowering Airmen

CMSAF shares time with Airmen during BMT graduation

Acting SecAF visits Hill AFB, focuses on supporting Airmen and Guardians

CSAF joins KC-46A operational survey sortie

48th CES enhance mission readiness through virtual reality

Airmen prepare a F-16 Fighting Falcon for takeoff

Video by Oswaldo Delacruz

Keeping Turbine Blades in Tune

Air Force Research Laboratory

Nov. 30, 2016 | 4:53

The turbine blades in an aircraft engine are part of a dynamic system with a complex vibratory response. Sometimes individual blades will vibrate at different frequencies due to wear, damage, or repairs. These “mistuned” blades are susceptible to high cycle fatigue, which can lead to the loss of a blade, a rotor, an engine, and on rare, catastrophic occasions, even a plane.

With support from the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Blade Diagnostics Corporation developed a new way to detect mistuning, making aircraft safer even as it reduces maintenance costs. Today, the SmartBlend system has been integrated into the work flow at Tinker Air Force Base, and is also finding application in the power generation industry, which relies on turbine engines.

BDC’s technology is just one of many successful innovations enabled by the US Air Force’s SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.