Air Force Research Laboratory

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct-energy based aerospace warfighting technologies, planning and executing the Air Force science and technology program, and providing warfighting capabilities to United States air, space, and cyberspace forces. It controls the entire Air Force science and technology research budget which was $2.4 billion in 2006.

The Laboratory was formed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, on 31 October 1997 as a consolidation of four Air Force laboratory facilities (Wright, Phillips, Rome, and Armstrong) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under a unified command. The Laboratory is composed of eight technical directorates, one wing, and the Office of Scientific Research. Each technical directorate emphasizes a particular area of research within the AFRL mission which it specializes in performing experiments in conjunction with universities and contractors.

Since the Laboratory's formation in 1997, it has conducted numerous experiments and technical demonstrations in conjunction with NASA, Department of Energy, National Laboratories, DARPA, and other research organizations within the Department of Defense. Notable projects include the X-37, X-40, X-53, HTV-3X, YAL-1A, Advanced Tactical Laser, and the Tactical Satellite Program.

In 2009, it was reported that the Laboratory may face problems in the future as 40 percent of its workers are slated to retire over the next two decades, and since 1980, the United States has not produced enough science and engineering degrees to keep up with demand.

In 1945, the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories were established. These laboratories were active from 1945 to 2011, following consolidation to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Kirtland Air Force Base under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The labs were founded as the Air Force Cambridge Research Center (AFCRC), a Cold War systems development organization which developed telephone modem communications for a Digital Radar Relay in 1949. Created by General Henry H. Arnold in 1945, AFCRC participated in Project Space Track and Semi-Automatic Ground Environment development.

The path to a consolidated Air Force Research Laboratory began with the passage of the Goldwater–Nichols Act which was designed to streamline the use of resources by the Department of Defense. In addition to this Act, the end of the Cold War began a period of budgetary and personnel reductions within the armed forces in preparation for a "stand-down" transition out of readiness for a global war with the Soviet Union. Prior to 1990, the Air Force laboratory system spread research out into 13 different laboratories and the Rome Air Development Center which each reported up two separate chains of command: a product center for personnel, and the Air Force Systems Command Director of Science & Technology for budgetary purposes. Bowing to the constraints of a reduced budget and personnel, the Air Force merged the existing research laboratories into four "superlabs" in December 1990. During this same time period, the Air Force Systems Command and Air Force Logistics Command merged to form Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) in July 1992.

While the initial consolidation of Air Force laboratories reduced overhead and budgetary pressure, another push towards a unified laboratory structure came in the form of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, Section 277. This section instructed the Department of Defense to produce a five-year plan for consolidation and restructuring of all defense laboratories. The currently existing laboratory structure was created in October 1997 through the consolidation of Phillips Laboratory headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, Rome Laboratory (formerly Rome Air Development Center) in Rome, New York, and Armstrong Laboratory in San Antonio, Texas and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The single laboratory concept was developed and championed by Maj Gen Richard Paul, who was Director of Science & Technology for AFMC and Gen Henry Viccellio Jr, and then became the first Commander of AFRL.

With the merger of the laboratories into a single entity, the history offices at each site ceased to maintain independent histories and all history functions were transferred to a central History Office located at AFRL HQ at Wright-Patterson AFB. In homage to the predecessor laboratories, the new organization named four of the research sites after the laboratories and assured that each laboratory's history would be preserved as inactivated units.