AFFTC sees changes under Air Force restructuring plan

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Some Edwards groups and squadrons were restructured June 30 to align those organizations with the new Air Force manning and standardization guidelines as well as the Air Force Acquisition Improvement Plan.  

The move follows guidance the base received in May when Air Force Materiel Command officials notified center commanders that Air Force headquarters had approved the command's restructuring plan. 
 
As a result, some groups and squadrons at the Air Force Flight Test Center were inactivated as of June 30.

"As far as services being provided to the test wing and base, these changes should be very transparent," said Mike Maher, AFFTC Manpower and Personnel director. "It's important to note that even though the names of the organizations have changed, the support they are providing is not changing."

The 412th Test Management Group was converted to a division and is now known as the Test Management Division under the 412th Test Wing.

Two subordinate squadrons, the 412th Test Support Squadron and 712th Test Support Squadron, have been converted into branches. 412th TSS is now the Project Management Branch and 712th TSS is now called Resources Planning and Analysis Process Improvement Branch. Both fall under the newly designated Test Management Division.

Additionally, the Special Projects Division under the Test Management Division will be re-designated as the Special Projects Branch.

The 417th Flight Test Squadron and the 452 FLTS inactivated and became the Airborne Laser Branch and Unmanned Aerospace Systems Branch, respectively. Both still fall under the 412th Operations Group.

95th Air Base Wing has also seen a couple changes. The 95th Communications Group is now known as the 95th Communications Squadron and realigned under the 95th Mission Support Group.

The 95th Contracting Squadron was inactivated and absorbed by the AFFTC Contracting Directorate.

"We have been working hard on this since September with the command to make sure the numbers were right and what we were doing to the units was right," Mr. Maher said. "Even though the work everyone is doing in 95th CG and the Test Management Group is not going to change, the nomenclature of the organization is, and sometimes people do not like change. However, absolutely none of the work will be changing."

The decision to standardize the sizes of wings, groups and squadrons was announced last September by Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.
 
Wings now must have 1,000 or more personnel; groups must have 400; and squadrons must have 35. Those units that do not meet those minimum manning requirements are to be re-designated as directorates, divisions and branches, respectively.

Along with changing from wings to directorates, Air Force officials have also created several new program executive officer slots. PEOs, senior officials responsible for acquisition program execution, will be leading many of the directorates at AFMC centers.

In conjunction with the Air Force's realignment requirements, AFMC has also implemented its Acquisition Improvement Plan. One of the goals of the AIP is to establish clear lines of authority and accountability within acquisition organizations. Gen. Donald J. Hoffman, AFMC commander, wanted both the AIP and the Air Force's restructuring to occur at the same time for bases falling under AFMC.

"Most of our acquisition units were not large enough to maintain the appropriate wing, group and squadron designations," said General Hoffman. "Combining units to meet the size thresholds would have been major surgery and would have buried senior acquisition leadership at the squadron level or below."

The AIP also embraces the differences between the acquisition and operational missions in the Air Force.

General Hoffman said the changes involved a total command-wide effort and that changes will bring benefits. AFMC planners said the realignment is a not just a simple return to organizational designations AFMC once used before adopting the wing structure.