Science and technology the making of the Air Force Research Laboratory
Science and technology the making of the Air Force Research Laboratory

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1428990712

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This history documents a watershed event within the United States Air Force -- the creation of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). As the "high technology" service, the Air Force has always searched for ways to continuously improve its science and technology enterprise. In that context, the making of AFRL was not a bureaucratic accident. Rather, it was the product of a complex mixture of historical forces and pressures at work that convinced people at all levels that the time was ripe to bring about fundamental reform in how the Air Force conducts its business of science and technology. In terms of significance, a wealth of past studies has focused on almost every aspect of the "operational" side of the Air Force. But there has been a scarcity of available scholarly studies that address the far-reaching implications of science and technology. This book is a major contribution that helps fill that gap. Organization and infrastructure are critically important components of the total science and technology picture. Thus, the manner in which its laboratory system is organized is a critical factor in the Air Force's ability to assure that it is investing in and delivering the most relevant technologies possible. This book documents how the Air Force moved from 13 separate labs to one consolidated lab. The narrative is divided into two parts. Part one addresses the reasons why the Air Force decided to consolidate its far-flung science and technology enterprise into one lab. How the new lab was implemented is the focus of part two. This study is especially revealing because the reader is given access to the inner workings and struggles of a major Air Force organizational restructuring through interviews with key individuals who participated directly in the decision-making process to establish a single lab. A chronology of the lab's creation is included. (19 tables, 22 figures, 19 photographs).

Science and Technology - the Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory
Science and Technology - the Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory

Author: Robert Duffner

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781478392323

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Robert W. Duffner's Science and Technology: The Making of the Air Force Research Laboratory addresses the far-reaching implications of science and technology by recounting the events that led to the creation of a single Air Force laboratory. This engaging story of how the Air Force moved from 13 separate labs to one consolidated lab reflects that service's determination to reinvigorate its science and technology infrastructure and thereby strengthen the nation's defense for the twenty-first century. Part one considers why the Air Force decided to consolidate its far-flung science and technology enterprise into one lab, while part two relates how the service implemented the new lab. Dr. Duffner offers a unique perspective on a watershed event in the life of the United States Air Force.

COLD WAR LABORATORY
COLD WAR LABORATORY

Author: Martin J. Collins

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

Published: 2002-11-17

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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In 1946, before the start of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the Army Air Forces established Project RAND -- a groundbreaking 'think tank' designed to link leaders in the military and aircraft industry. Modern war was now total war, a contest between entire societies, and demanded the commitment of peacetime preparation. Martin J. Collins examines the critical years of this experiment through an evolving cast of key individuals and investigates in-depth the scientific and social birth of systems analysis.

The Strengthening of Air Force In-House Laboratories
The Strengthening of Air Force In-House Laboratories

Author: Office of Office of Air Force History

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-03-17

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 9781508899693

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In a Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, USAF, dated 16 July 1962, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Research and Development) requested that the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) be directed to accomplish a "two pronged project" which would document and analyze the "Air Force in-house laboratory posture." The first AFCHO response to this request, the Memorandum stated, should be "a review of actions taken by the Air Force since the 14 October memorandum of the Secretary of Defense in strengthening the in-house laboratories." The study presented in the following pages endeavors to meet the first of the two requirements which were assigned to AFCHO by the Vice Chief of Staff, USAF. A second and considerably larger study will be issued by AFCHO during calendar year 1963. This forthcoming study will, within the terms of reference contained in the 16 July Memorandum, be "an historical analysis of policies, actions, attitudes and results relating to in-house laboratories since the Von Karman report was issued in 1946. It should be a much longer range project which will bring together for the first time all the information on this subject and will be most useful in analyzing and portraying the Air Force's use and support of the in-house laboratories over the past two decades." Mr. Carl Berger, the author of this first, briefer, and essentially current study on Air Force in-house laboratories, will also prepare the second, more comprehensive, and longer range AFCHO study covering this highly important and often controversial area of Air Force activity.

The Rise and Fall of Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories
The Rise and Fall of Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories

Author: Edward E. Altshuler

Publisher:

Published: 2013-01-02

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9781481832519

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This monograph provides a chronological account of how a fledgling research laboratory, which evolved from the MIT Radiation Laboratory and the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory after World War II, rose to become one of the premier research laboratories in the world as evidenced by its major accomplishments throughout its 66 year history. After many years of outstanding productivity the laboratory began to slowly decline. Even though the downsizing began in1974, the Hanscom Field Site continued to be very productive until its final days. In 2005 it was placed on the Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) list and in August 2011 it was closed. Many of the major events that led to this decline were politically motivated. I had the privilege of collaborating with outstanding scientists from May 1960 to May 2011 and was blessed with a very rewarding career. One of the most ironic outcomes of the AFCRL history was the fact that when the laboratory was first established, the original plan was to move the new laboratory to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio in 1946; this move actually occurred 65 years later. Also, after the Geophysics Research Directorate (GRD), was moved from New Jersey to Cambridge, MA in July 1948, there were numerous attempts to move GRD to Kirtland AFB. This also occurred in 2011.