AFMC reunified research, acquisition and logistics in a single major command. The Aeronautical Systems Division became the Aeronautical Systems Center and was assigned the air base wing and 74th Medical Group.
In October 1993 the 2750th Air Base Wing was redesignated the 645th Air Base Wing, only to be renamed the 88th Air Base Wing the next year. In 1997 the Air Force Research Laboratory was created to consolidate the Air Force’s laboratories.
Wright-Patterson’s traditional work – research, development, acquisition, logistics and training – remained unchanged, but test flying formally ended when the 4950th Test Wing moved to Edwards AFB, California, in 1994.
Wright Patterson marks 100 years of aviation achievement
Two events soon disrupted Wright-Patterson’s normal routine. Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990-1992 found the air base wing deploying base personnel and performing its wartime Aerial Port of Embarkation mission. The wing processed and deployed 2,309 Army Soldiers and tons of cargo. It also redeployed 331 Air Force and 1,916 Army personnel, plus cargo after operations ended.
The 4950th Test Wing flew 181 sorties and transported 1,400 tons of cargo. Aeronautical Systems Division’s aeronautical systems and National Air and Space Intelligence Center’s intelligence support gave the Air Force a stunning technological superiority.
Four years later, Wright-Patterson was center stage as a forum for world peace when it hosted the Balkans conflict peace talks. From Nov. 1-21, 1995, a base support team led by the 88th Air Base Wing erected a “base within the base” to house the diplomatic compound, ensure security, support the diplomats and minimize disruptions to normal base operations. The Balkan Proximity Peace Talks successfully concluded with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Defense reductions and consolidations affected base operations throughout the decade. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service absorbed the base’s payroll and other financial work while Air Force Personnel Center took over personnel management. The base railroad shut down and the Aircraft Tire Storage and Distribution Point closed. Base supply, transportation and flightline operations converted to contract operations.
Wright-Patterson became a forward operating location for the E-4 National Airborne Operations Center and an Open Skies Treaty Airfield. It lost the 4950th Test Wing and 906th Fighter Group but gained the 445th Airlift Wing and National Aviation Hall of Fame.
On Oct. 16, 1992, the Huffman Prairie Flying Field became part of the newly created Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. During the 1990s Warrior Hall (Bldg. 271), the Hope Hotel and Conference Center, Foreign Materiel Exploitation Facility and the Fisher House opened. Area B added several Air Force Institute of Technology buildings, laboratories and the General Doolittle Acquisition Management Complex, a phased initiative that consolidated the acquisition workforce in a state-of-the-art work center.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon immediately returned the installation to wartime operations. Wright-Patterson supported the combatants with manpower, weapon systems, technology, innovation and ingenuity. Within hours the base underwent dramatic permanent changes. The installation was secured and access restricted. Anti-terrorism and operational security measures were implemented. Fencing, security barriers and gates were added, moved and reconfigured to reduce vulnerabilities and increase force protection. In 2013 the opening of a new Gate 1A ended the Area A-Kittyhawk separation and made the base easier to manage and secure.
Since 9/11, the 88th Air Base Wing has operated its Aerial Port of Embarkation, shipping supplies and equipment around the world. It has deployed more than 10,900 Wright-Patterson personnel while the Family Support Center supported both Airmen and their families. The Wright-Patterson Medical Center has collected blood for wounded combatants and operated the Air Force’s only blood center supporting the Department of Defense Frozen Blood Program. It also trained military nurses to treat casualties in the combat zones.
Tenants contributed support as well. AFMC oversaw and accelerated the development, acquisition, and sustainment of weapons and materiel to support the warfighters. AFRL, ASC and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center responded to urgent requirements for new capabilities and battlefield equipment. NASIC contributed technical intelligence to planners and combatants, while the 445th Airlift Wing transported troops and supplies to the combat theaters and returned wounded personnel to the United States.
The acquisition enterprise underwent comprehensive transformation and process overhaul in the new millennium. DOD guidance began emphasizing capabilities over requirements and greater latitude for innovation and discretionary action. The goal was to improve cost, schedule and performance and speed delivery of capabilities to warfighters.
The Air Force reviewed its product, logistics and test centers in 2003 to make them more efficient and recognizable to their customers. As a result, in 2004 the ASC commander was designated the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Aircraft. Aircraft PEO portfolios were consolidated into larger mission groups and moved from Washington, D.C., to Wright-Patterson AFB. ASC also transferred the Medical Group to the 88 ABW so the center could focus on systems acquisition. In 2005, the Air Force replaced the System Program Offices with wings, groups and squadrons and stopped detailing functional support to the program offices.
More refinements in 2010 abolished the AFPEO for Aircraft and created five new PEO positions in ASC. Directorates, divisions and branches, along with matrix management of support personnel, replaced the military units. PEOs became directors and made responsible for executing their acquisition programs.
Multiple acquisition initiatives, manpower reductions, industry consolidation, budget constraints combined with rapidly growing demand for new capabilities were impeding weapon system procurement. Congress responded in 2009 by converting contracted jobs back to federal civil service.
Subsequent reviews revealed high overhead costs, redundancies and imbalances between priority areas needing more personnel and management functions needing fewer. AFMC’s responded by consolidating its 12 location-specific centers into five mission-based, integrated life cycle centers in 2012. Two of the centers resided on Wright-Patterson AFB. AFRL continued its operations, but ASC and the Air Force Security Assistance Center inactivated to make way for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, to which the 88th Air Base Wing was reassigned.
AFLCMC, its 10 PEOs, and three program directorates consolidated design, production and product support decisions for all aircraft, engines, munitions, electronics and cyber systems in a single center.
The face of Wright-Patterson AFB has continued to change since 9/11. The 2005 BRAC spawned massive demolition, renovations and new construction in Area B to accommodate the 711th Human Performance Wing, United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, laboratories, AFIT expansion, an IT complex and service facilities. Even Gate 19B had to be moved to accommodate the changes.
In Area A, housing and other obsolete facilities were demolished to make way for a Marine Corps Reserve Center, control tower and fire station, an expanding NASIC complex and Medical Center renovations. Kittyhawk Center grew as well with new dormitories, a service station and consolidated arts and craft center. The base also privatized 1,536 Page Manor/Woodland Hills housing units, the largest housing privatization project in the Air Force.
The Wright brothers used Huffman Prairie and Dayton for research and development, flight testing, training, a logistics center and to operate the world’s first airport. Here, too, they established a “can-do” spirit of invention and innovation. One hundred years ago the Army Signal Corps assigned the same missions to its three Dayton sites.
Today, AFMC, AFRL, NASIC, AFLCMC, AFIT, 445 AW and the 88 ABW carry on the same work and spirit of invention and innovation as they lead Wright-Patterson Air Force Base into its second century.
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