Prior to a static performance test at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) Propulsion Research Facility, Brad Besheres, an outside machinist in the ATA Technology Branch’s instrumentation and diagnostics group, is inspecting AEDC’s upgraded J85 Augmentor rig coupled to GE’s developmental augmentor assembly, all of which is mounted on the facility’s T-6 thrust frame. The test has two phases, with the first to characterize and evaluate the augmentor’s durability and mission performance. The second phase focuses on instrumentation and diagnostics project activities. These focus on various measurement techniques (optical tail pipe camera stereoscopic imaging and gas sampling techniques) that can be applied to gas turbine engines. (Photo by Rick Goodfriend)