Mission
AFMC's
mission is to develop, deliver and sustain the best products for the world's best
Air Force. It is the Air Force's largest command in terms of employees and funding.
AFMC supports other U.S. military forces and allies, and handles major aerospace
responsibilities for the Department of Defense.
This includes research,
development, testing, and evaluation of satellites, boosters, space probes and
associated systems needed to support specific National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration
projects.
AFMC researches, develops, tests, acquires, delivers and logistically
supports every Air Force weapon system as well as other military non-weapon systems.
AFMC works closely with its customers -- the operational commands -- to ensure
each has the most capable aircraft, missiles and support equipment possible.
AFMC uses five goals to help build a better Air Force:
* Satisfies
its customers' needs in war and peace
* Enables its people to excel
*
Sustains technological superiority
* Enhances the excellence of its business
practices
* Operates quality installations
Personnel and Resources
AFMC employs a highly professional and skilled command work force of about
111,500 military and civilian employees. The command's emphasis on "high
technology" makes it the Air Force's largest employer of scientists and engineers.
AFMC also employs the most Air Force civilians -- about 76,500 -- and has about
11,000 officers and 24,000 enlisted people. This work force operates major product
centers throughout the United States.
AFMC fulfills its mission of equipping
the Air Force with the best weapons systems through a series of facilities that
fosters "cradle-to-grave" oversight for aircraft, missiles, munitions
and the people who operate them.
Weapon systems, such as aircraft and
missiles, are developed and acquired through four product centers, using science
and technology from four major laboratories. The systems are tested in AFMC's
three test centers, then are serviced and receive major repairs over their lifetime
at the command's five air logistics centers. The command's specialized centers
perform many other development and logistics functions. Eventually, aircraft and
missiles are "retired" to AFMC's Arizona desert facility.
Product
Centers
Aeronautical Systems Center, at Wright-Patterson AFB, is
responsible for research, development, test, evaluation and initial acquisition
of aeronautical systems and related equipment for the Air Force. Its major active
programs are the B-2 and B-1B bombers, advanced cruise missile, C-17 airlifter,
F-22 fighter and continuing work on the F-117A stealth fighter, F-15 Eagle and
F-16 Fighting Falcon. Electronic Systems Center, at Hanscom AFB, Mass., develops
and acquires command, control, communications, computer and intelligence systems.
Among the systems developed by the center are mission planning systems, the Airborne
Warning and Control System, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, the Joint
Surveillance Target Attack Radar System and the North American Aerospace Defense
Command Center in Cheyenne Mountain, Colo.
Space and Missile Systems
Center, at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., designs and acquires all Air Force and most
DOD space systems. It oversees launches, completes on-orbit checkouts, then turns
systems over to user agencies. It supports the Program Executive Office for Space
on the Navstar Global Positioning, Defense Satellite Communications and Milstar
systems. SMSC also supports the Titan IV, Defense Meteorological Satellite and
Defense Support programs, and Follow-on Early Warning System. In addition, it
supports development and acquisition of land-based intercontinental ballistic
missiles for the Air Force Program Executive Office - Strategic Systems.
Human Systems Center, at Brooks AFB, Texas, has the role of integrating and maintaining
people in Air Force systems and operations. The center concentrates on crew-system
integration, crew protection, environmental protection and force readiness (human
resources and aerospace medicine). It develops and acquires systems such as life
support, chemical warfare defense, air base support and aeromedical casualty.
Major Laboratories
Armstrong Laboratory is part of the Human
Systems Center at Brooks AFB, and ensures that Air Force weapon systems are compatible
with the people operating them. The laboratory researches and develops technology
for maintaining, protecting and enhancing human capabilities during Air Force
operations. Its efforts are concentrated on aerospace medicine, crew systems,
human resources and occupational and environmental health.
Phillips Laboratory,
at Kirtland AFB, N.M., is the Air Force's focal point for all space and missile-related
research and technology, including geophysics, propulsion, space vehicles, survivability
and directed-energy weapons. It is part of AFMC's Space and Missile Systems Center.
Rome Laboratory, located at Griffiss AFB, N.Y., is the Air Force's research
and development center for command, control, communications and intelligence.
The laboratory develops equipment and techniques for surveillance of ground and
aerospace objects. It is part of the ElectronicsSystems Center.
Wright Laboratory is a part of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson
and is the Air Force's largest laboratory complex. The laboratory leads in the
discovery, development and transition of aeronautical technologies. It is recognized
as the center of technical excellence for materials and manufacturing, structures,
cockpits, flight control and micro-electronics. It also is recognized for artificial
intelligence, computational fluid dynamics, hypersonic vehicles, electronic warfare,
air breathing propulsion and ordnance technology.
Test Centers
Arnold
Engineering Development Center, at Arnold AFB, Tenn., has the nation's most advanced
and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities. The center has more
than 50 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test
cells, space environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistics ranges and other
units. The center tests aircraft, missiles and space systems and subsystems at
flight conditions they will experience during a mission.
Air Force Development
Test Center, at Eglin AFB, Fla., tests and evaluates non-nuclear munitions, electronic
combat systems, and navigation and guidance systems. The center's test wing manages
all of the large test ranges on the 724-square-mile Eglin complex, as well as
86,500 square miles of water ranges in the adjacent Gulf of Mexico. Major tests
include aircraft systems and subsystems, missiles, guns, bombs, rockets, targets
and drones, high-powered radar and airborne electronic countermeasures equipment.
Air Force Flight Test Center, at Edwards AFB, Calif., covers 301,000 acres
on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. It has tested all the aircraft in the
Air Force inventory. The nation's first jet- and rocket-powered aircraft completed
their first flights at Edwards. The center is where piloted aircraft first exceeded
Machs 1 through 6. It is also the site of lifting-body research flights, critical
to the design and development of the space shuttle.
Air Logistics
Centers
Ogden Air Logistics Center, at Hill AFB, Utah, provides logistics
support for the entire Air Force inventory of intercontinental ballistic missiles,
as well as depot-level maintenance for F/RF-4, F-16 and C-130 aircraft.
Other responsibilities include management of the Maverick air-to-ground missile,
GBU-15 and laser-guided bombs and the Emergency Rocket Communications Systems.
The center is the logistics manager for all landing gear, air munitions, solid
propellants and explosive devices used by the Air Force.
Oklahoma City
Air Logistics Center, at Tinker AFB, Okla., provides worldwide
logistics support
and depot-level maintenance for a variety of weapons systems, including the B-1B,
B-52, multipurpose 135-series aircraft, the E-3 and E-4 and management of the
B-2 bomber. It supports the short-range attack missile and the air-launched cruise
missile. The center also manages a large variety of aircraft engines.
Sacramento Air Logistics Center, at McClellan AFB, Calif., provides worldwide
logistics management and depot-level maintenance for a number of aircraft, including
the F-111, A-7, A-10, C-12, C-21, T-39 and F-117A. It has worldwide responsibility
for ground communications electronics, which includes several space-support programs
and major ground-communications electronics system networks. The center will support
the F-22 air superiority fighter.
San Antonio Air Logistics Center, at
Kelly AFB, Texas, provides worldwide logistics support and depot-level maintenance
for such weapon systems as the C-5, T-37, T-38 and C-17 aircraft. It manages more
than 14,000 aircraft engines and 94,000 non-aircraft engines -- more than half
the Air Force inventory. The center manages the Air Force's nuclear ordnance and
fuels, liquid propellants and lubricants used by the Air Force, NASA and other
agencies.
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, at Robins AFB, Ga., provides
worldwide
logistics management and depot-level maintenance for the F-15, C-141
and C-130 aircraft, as well as for utility aircraft, helicopters, missiles, and
drone and remotely piloted vehicles. It is the main U.S. operating base for the
E-8 Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System aircraft.
Major
Specialized Centers
Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center,
at Newark AFB, Ohio, is the center that repairs missile and aircraft inertial
guidance and navigation systems, and certain aircraft displacement gyroscopes.
It provides a full range of engineering and consultation services on inertial
systems to the Air Force and other DOD agencies. In addition, the center provides
technical direction and management of the Air Force Metrology and Calibration
Program.
Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, at Davis-Monthan
AFB, Ariz., is the site for storing surplus aircraft and for aircraft regeneration.
The center stores preserved aircraft indefinitely with minimum deterioration and
corrosion because of the meager rainfall, low humidity and alkaline soil in the
Tucson area. It presently stores more than 3,600 aircraft from all the services.
When production of older aircraft ceases, the center sometimes is the sole source
for parts. Reclamation projects have become a major part of the center's work
load.
Air Force Security Assistance Center, at Wright-Patterson AFB,
integrates and coordinates the security assistance activities of AFMC. The center
ensures fulfillment of Air Force commitments for goods and services to its foreign
customers -- more than 80 foreign governments, allies and international organizations.
The center is responsible for information systems and process management that
support the logistics and financial management of security-assistance programs.
Cataloging and Standardization Center, at Battle Creek, Mich., is the Air
Force focal point for federal cataloging and DOD standardization programs. The
center's item entry control process compares and technically assesses the form,
fit, function and safety requirements of new items against currently cataloged
items. This prevents duplicating in the inventory. Its logistics data management
division develops, monitors and updates logistics data on all supply items used
by the Air Force. A customer support division provides users information on stock
and part numbers, and the interchangeability of spare parts.
History
AFMC traces its heritage to 1917 when the Equipment Division of the U.S.
Army Signal Corps established a headquarters for its new Airplane Engineering
Department at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, a World War I experimental engineering
facility.
Functionally divided during World War II, research and development,
and logistics were reunited for several years as Air Materiel Command during the
late 1940s. In 1950, the Air Research and Development Command became a separate
organization devoted strictly to research and development.
In 1961, Air
Materiel Command was redesignated Air Force Logistics Command while Air Research
and Development Command, gaining responsibility for weapon system acquisition,
was redesignated Air Force Systems Command. The two commands were integrated to
form Air Force Materiel Command July 1, 1992.
Point of Contact
Air Force Materiel Command, Public Affairs Offfice; 4375 Chidlaw Road Ste
6, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433-5006; DSN 787-7592 or (513) 257-7592.
November 1995
