Arnold Air Force Base (Arnold AFB) (ICAO: KAYX, FAA LID: AYX) is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma.

The center operates 58 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges and other specialized units.

[2] The commander of Arnold Engineering Development Center is Col. Scott A. Cain,[3] and Mark A. Mehalic is the executive director.

[4] Camp Forrest, located in Tullahoma, Tennessee, was constructed as one of the Army's largest training bases during the World War II period between 1941 and 1946.

Major General George S. Patton brought his 2nd Armored Division, "Hell on Wheels", from Fort Benning, Georgia, for maneuvers.

The field was used as a training site for crews of multi-engined B-24 Liberator bombers of the Army Air Forces.

In 1945, the US government implemented an Intellectual Diversion Program which would enlighten Germany on the American way of life and increase their appreciation for the United States.

Because of maneuvers and operations, civilians became accustomed to blocked roads, traffic jams, crowded stores, the absence of mail delivery, and driving at night without lights.

The Arnold Research Organization (ARO) was formed by Sverdrup and Parcel to become that contractor work force.

Part of the rationale was to maintain a stable work force that came to accumulate a volume of experience with the test facilities that were to be built.

The first jet engine test equipment installed at the center was acquired from the Bavarian Motor Works in Munich, Germany.

A flight dynamics facility for testing aerospace designs at high speeds was built and dedicated to Dr. Theodore von Kármán in 1959.

AEDC developed Laser-Illuminated Photography during the decade to better study projectiles in the center's ballistic Range G that would be traveling up to 20,000 mph (32,000 km/h).

The honor recognized AEDC's superior management of fish and wildlife resources, conservation practices and environmental achievement.

The demonstration assessed the effectiveness of using a large MHD generator to boost coal's efficiency in producing electricity.

From the Patriot Air Defense Missile to the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, AEDC people worked on every aerospace system deployed to the Persian Gulf.

It was the first time technology showed up so dramatically in a real-world conflict, and it was a testament to the test and development work Arnold, von Karman and Wattendorf envisioned would be performed at AEDC.

From opening its doors to commercial customers to "reengineering", the center's people explored better ways of doing business.

Early in the decade, the center signed formal, long-term working alliances with several commercial aerospace organizations (Boeing, General Electric, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Pratt & Whitney) to steady the workload and to offset dwindling defense budgets.

That led to companies like Pratt & Whitney and Boeing bringing projects that were strictly commercial to AEDC.

AEDC leaders began to emphasize strategic management, meeting in focus groups to consider the long-term health of the center.

Later in the decade, on Oct. 1, 1997, AEDC assumed management for the former Navy Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md.

The Mach 8 milestone, which equates to objects traveling about 6,000 mph (9,700 km/h), comes as workers install a new high-temperature and high-pressure burner in the center's Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit.

Installing the high-pressure air storage tanks and new liquid oxygen and isobutane systems are also included in the upgrade.

[5] A wetland within Arnold Air Force is the only documented location of Gopher Frog in the state of Tennessee.