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JAXA tests at Vidsel |
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the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) have been co-operating for many years on NEAT, the North European Aerospace Test range. NEAT offers 24,000 km² restricted airspace between Vidsel and Kiruna where unmanned aerial vehicles, space and weapon systems are tested for space and defence industries and military forces. SSC is responsible for the operation of test systems at FMV’s Vidsel test facility. In mid-September, a special flight test campaign took place at Vidsel. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, runs a supersonic flights research project, focusing on the reduction of noise and sonic booms. The Vidsel tests were verifications of measurement equipment to register sonic booms and the generation of reference data for future test campaigns. Microphone systems were placed on the ground and suspended under an aerostat at 1 km altitude. A Swedish Gripen fighter was flown past to create in total 5 sonic booms. The possibility to fly supersonically over land is one of the features that make NEAT a truly unique European resource for aerospace test, evaluation and operations. This first test campaign is to be followed by additional tests next year. |
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