Cool Your Jets: South Korea's Airplane-Punishing Test Facility

Navigating an ice storm at 30,000 feet is bad. South Korea's Agency for Defense Development decided to find out just how bad. It built two 14,500-square-foot hangars that can subject planes to myriad atmospheric situations. Set to fire up in February, the facilities—one electromagnetic, the other climatic—can mimic bursts of EM radiation and temperature swings from -65 to 129 degrees Fahrenheit. Need to know how a jet stands up to a downpour? Two feet of rain per hour coming up. Humidity? It's all remotely controlled. Solar radiation? Just hit the button. True, switching weather conditions requires refitting dozens of tiny nozzles rigged to 18 cranes, but it's totally worth the effort to turn an F-4D attack jet (like this one) into the most expensive popsicle ever.