AFMC Command News

  • ESC uses new acquisition steps to advance critical program

    An Electronic Systems Center team has completed one of the Air Force's first Materiel Development Decisions using the new DoD Instruction 5000.02 acquisition procedures approved by the Defense Department in December. The team, composed of 653rd Electronic Systems Group and Acquisition Excellence

  • Air Force, industry leaders honor Predator milestone

    Officials gathered beneath a Predator on display at the historic National Museum of the United States Air Force here Feb. 24 to commemorate a significant milestone in the development of the MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft system. The informal ceremony recognized a combat mission flown over Iraq on

  • Prepared to save a Wingman

    It was a Friday the 13th with a happy ending as co-workers from the 76th Maintenance Group used an Automated External Defibrillator to revive a heart attack victim at Tinker Air Force Base. The 23-year-old painter was atop a 20-foot-tall scissor lift with a co-worker, sanding the tail of an

  • 566th AMXS: A vital mission

    The 566th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron keeps at least seven types of aircraft airborne each day. The squadron, a part of the 76th Maintenance Wing, performs depot-level maintenance on the E-3 Sentry and the Navy's E-6 Mercury. It also performs corrosion prevention for the KC-135 Stratotanker, B-1

  • AFOSR Recognizes Talent in Three Top Young Researchers

    Although pursuing different focus areas of interest to the Air Force, three of this country's finest young researchers are each making a major impact on the frontiers of science and technology. Their work has also put them among an elite group of Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and

  • Predator passes 500,000 flight hours

    Airmen of the 432d Air Expeditionary Wing made history Feb. 18, when an aircrew flew the MQ-1B Predator Unmanned Aircraft Systems in a combat mission in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility surpassing the 500,000 flight hour mark. Members of the 15th Reconnaissance Squadron flew the

  • Rapid acquisition, training team help secure Iraqi elections

    An Electronic Systems Center rapid acquisition project helped ensure recent Iraqi elections were conducted peaceably. ESC provided 600 all-weather, fully stabilized metal detectors that were used at polling venues across the nation. The center also provided three members of a four-person team that

  • First time for AFMC at Red Flag

    The 416th Flight Test Squadron "Skulls" conquered the vast bombing and gunnery ranges of Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., as they participated in Red Flag 09-2, marking the first time an Air Force Materiel Command unit has ever deployed and participated in the exercise. "Red Flag allowed us to provide

  • AFOSR-funded research expected to improve fiber optics and computing

    An internationally celebrated physicist and AFOSR-, National Science Foundation-, NASA-funded researcher has overseen work leading to the first successful manipulation of coherent optical information. Dr. Lene Hau, has discovered applications through her work with light and matter that will impact

  • Airborne networking team works to meet challenges

    Mention of an airborne network conveys the sense of one monolithic entity, and someday, if all goes well, that is what it will be. Right now, however, "we have a lot of disparate networks," Mike Therrien, Airborne Networking division chief, told the Hanscom Representatives Association members at

  • ASC program keeps heavy-lifters in the air for decades

    When the first C-5M Super Galaxy touched down at Dover AFB, Del., on Feb. 9, it signaled the first success of a $7.7 billion acquisition program designed to keep the heavy-lift transport in the air until 2040. Perhaps still young compared to other aircraft in the fleet, the C-5 has been hauling the