Post by NLR - Netherlands Aerospace Centre

NLR congratulates DNW - German-Dutch Wind Tunnels with its 50th birthday! In 1976 NLR and our German counterpart German Aerospace Center (DLR) joined forces and funded DNW, a joint venture aimed at exploiting state-of-the art windtunnel facilities. Over the years, DNW has proved to be a model of successful European cooperation. Its windtunnels are not only used by aircraft manufacturers, but also by companies that want their cars or trucks tested for their aerodynamic or aeroacoustic properties. One of the flagships in Marknesse, the Netherlands, is the Large Low-speed Facility, Europe’s largest wind tunnel, which was commissioned in 1981 as DNW’s first wind tunnel. The Large Low-speed Facility is still used extensively by the aviation industry today. The facilities at DNW have contributed to the commercial success of various programmes, including Airbus aircraft (A320, A330, A340, A380, A400M), the Embraer E-jet/E-jets E2 family, the Eurofighter and F-35 fighter aircraft (JSF), and the NH90 helicopter programmes.