The Air Force Research Laboratory's Special Test and Research Laboratory, referred to as the "STAR Lab," officially opened September 25 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony here.

This one-of-a-kind facility will be used for independent analysis, development, testing and processing of materials. Masters of ceremony at the ribbon cutting were AFRL Materials and Manufacturing acting Director Col. Michael Warner and Materials Durability and Sustainment Branch Chief, Nader Hendizadeh.

At the ceremony, Hendizadeh expressed his appreciation to everyone who enabled the completion of the new facility. "The new lab will increase AFRL's research and development capability by providing unbiased, quick reaction expertise to its customers," he said. "This new capability will also enhance weapon systems safety, aircraft availability, and help decrease weapon systems sustainment costs."

The main function of the lab is to further the mission of AFRL's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. Its primary focus is on ensuring increased aircraft availability, decreased life cycle costs, and improved mission capability.

"The investment of a few million dollars in facility upgrades has proven to lead to over a billion dollars in life cycle costs for our platforms," said Warner. "The RXSS Coatings Technology Team has been intrinsically key in the development of new coatings to protect our Airmen from hazardous material exposure. This new space provides both an increase in capability and a modernization of our facilities to continue to provide quick reaction support and develop new materials to address current needs for chromium and cadmium replacement, as well as technical solutions to maintain our edge against adversaries for both the Air and Space Force."

STAR Lab personnel conduct basic research on materials, as well as work on a wide variety of science and technology solutions in support of Air Force operations and programs. The facility helps to identify and resolve problems, both in existing technologies and in ongoing research and development. It also shares knowledge and lessons learned with the manufacturers who build the aircraft or other equipment, as well as with affiliated contractor companies.

"STAR Lab offers a unique Department of Defense capability with a materials and process focus," said Dr. David Phillips, the Materials Affordability Tech Base Lead. "It provides unbiased materials and process development and transition, materials testing and evaluation, and rapid response for both root cause and failure analyses."

Key features of STAR Lab are temperature and humidity control throughout and an environmentally controlled paint booth to ensure spray conditions match the operational environment.

The ultimate goal of STAR Lab is to provide a multidisciplinary materials research and analysis capability that will reduce the manufacturing and sustainment costs of Air Force weapons and aircraft. This will in turn reduce the mission readiness burden of materials and material systems in the field of operation.

Part of the new facility, the Coatings, Corrosion, and Erosion Laboratory (CCEL) was also modernized and expanded into an open, continuous floor plan. This wide-open space allowed for precision materials evaluation and characterization in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment throughout, and created an elastomers testing facility. The lobby and restrooms of the building were also updated.

"With the call to accelerate change or lose, AFRL needs facilities capable of meeting the scientific demands for advancing critical technologies," said Col. Paul Henderson, AFRL's Vice Commander. "We know our adversaries are not slowing down, so we must move faster to deliver solutions. The improved STAR Lab and CCEL facilities specifically help address our need for rapid technology evaluation, simultaneously delivering technological solutions to current warfighter needs, while enabling revolutionary capabilities for future systems."

The first STAR Lab started operating in 2009. However, its mission quickly grew, and by 2014 expansion was already needed. The first problem with that was figuring out how to expand the lab into an adjacent, continuous space in a fully occupied building.

The solution required several planned moves of existing laboratory facilities and a building renovation that was divided into three phases. Construction of the expanded STAR Lab began in October 2017.

The expansion enables an increase in unique capabilities and materials characterization, allowing for greater customer engagement and support.

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