Air Force Systems Command The Air Force Systems Command ( AFSC ) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command . It was established in April 1951 , being split off from Air Materiel Command . The mission of AFSC was Research and Development for new weapons systems . Overview . AFSC took on engineering functions which formerly resided in the Air Materiel Command ( AMC ) , the Army Air Forces Technical Service Command ( TSC ) , and the Air Technical Service Command ( ATSC ) as a separate research and development command in 1950 . It incorporated Air Proving Ground Command in 1957 . On 1 July 1992 , AFSC and Air Force Logistics Command were merged to form the Air Force Materiel Command , located at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio . In the reorganization of 1961 , Air Force Systems Command acquired the materiel procurement function from Air Force Logistics Command . It was re - integrated with Air Force Logistics Command in 1992 . History . Origins . The origins of Air Force Systems Command date at least to the establishment of the Airplane Engineering Department by the Chief Signal Officer , U . S . Army , on 13 October 1917 at McCook Field , Ohio . Re - designated the Engineering Division of the U . S . Army Air Service in March 1919 , this organization carried out the research , development and testing of military aircraft , engines , airships and accessories . Renamed the Materiel Division of the newly established Army Air Corps in October 1926 , it undertook the procurement , supply and maintenance activities of Army aviation . American aviation development fell behind its European rivals after the mid - 1930s when Germany started a continental arms race . The threat of war at the decade ' s end began to change the situation . During the late 1930s American industry spent over $ 100 million annually on aviation research . University grants grew and military personnel enrollment in science courses increased . Leaders of the Army Air Forces ( AAF ) were alarmed by many of the new weapons that would revolutionize air warfare which had emerged from foreign laboratories . Radar , jet aircraft ( Messerschmitt Me 262 , Fieseler Fi 103 ( V - 1 flying bomb ) ) and ballistic missiles ( V - 2 rocket ) had all either originated or been perfected outside the United States . Congress greatly increased funds for R & D . Subsequently , the engineering function resided in the Materiel Command , the AAF Technical Service Command , the Air Technical Service Command , and the Air Materiel Command . The war had shown the destructiveness of aerial attack and made Arnold an aggressive advocate for aeronautical research . On 7 November 1944 , General Henry H . " Hap " Arnold , Commanding General of the Army Air Forces directed the AAF Scientific Advisory Group ( SAG ) to study the technological achievements of America ' s wartime allies and provide a blueprint for large - scale research and development of science and advanced technology for the Air Force . However , the Army Air Forces needed to achieve achieve independence , which it did on 18 September 1947 , with its transition into an independent United States Air Force . Also , the role of the Air Force in the postwar world had to be defined . The 1948 Finletter Commission published its report , " Survival in the Air Age " , in January 1948 . It set forth a new concept of airpower , i . e . , a powerful peacetime force able to counter any enemy air attack . The Finletter Report inspired a group of senior USAF officers with backgrounds in engineering and related fields to analyze the existing R & D organization . Their findings , and the salesmanship of Generals Jimmy Doolittle and Donald Putt , convinced Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt S . Vandenberg to put the R & D mission on a more equal footing with the operational Air Force . Accordingly , and in the face of intense Air Staff opposition , on 23 January 1950 , the Research and Development Command ( RDC ) came into being . Eight months later it was re - designated the Air Research and Development Command ( ARDC ) as a separate organization devoted strictly to research and development . Cold War . During the 1950s , the new command began to make its mark . ARDC developed many ambitious aircraft and missile protoypes . Among the successes of this period were the North American F - 86 Sabre swept wing fighter , the Boeing B - 52 Stratofortress intercontinental bomber , the Lockheed C - 130 Hercules turboprop transport and the Lockheed U - 2 very high - altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft . In addition , ARDC played a major contribution in the development of Intercontinental ballistic missile s ( ICBMs ) , which became a priority after the world learned that the Soviet Union had detonated a thermonuclear ( hydrogen ) bomb on 23 August 1953 . A crash program was employed which developed which developed America ' s first ICBM ( the SM - 65D Atlas ) , that became operational in 1959 . In terms of importance , resources , and success , the ICBM program was rivaled only by the famed Manhattan Project of World War II . The Atlas program led to the belief that the entire responsibility for deploying new weapons systems – from research , development and testing through procurement and production – should be vested in one command , rather than split between Air Materiel Command ( AMC ) and ARDC . It was the Soviet Union ' s launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 that greatly influenced HQ USAF and ARDC thinking . The Stever Report , completed in June 1958 , which proposed a new Air Force command for weapons acquisition . With this report and a realization of DoD ' s desire to assign the military space mission to the Air Force , the Air Force won the approval of Secretary of Defense Robert S . McNamara in 1961 for a new major command . In the reorganization and re - designation actions of 1961 , Air Materiel Command was re - designated Air Force Logistics Command ( AFLC ) while Air Research and Development Command , gaining responsibility for weapon system acquisition , was re - designated Air Force Systems Command ( AFSC ) . Under the Kennedy Administration , Secretary McNamara instituted powerful centralization tools in acquisition such as the total package procurement concept ( TPPC ) . This system shifted many major program management functions to the Pentagon . Stressing computer modeling , concurrency , and paper competitions among the contractors , TPPC sharply curtailed the flexibility of Systems Command program managers . Cost overruns and serious technical difficulties in such TPPC programs as the Lockheed C - 5 Galaxy and General Dynamics F - 111 Aardvark lead to drastic changes in DoD acquisition practices . In 1970 , Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard revised many McNamara policies . He decentralized the acquisition system and reemphasized prototyping in weapons development . Vietnam era and aftermath . As the Vietnam War dominated the late 1960s and early 1970s , AFSC focused on quick solutions to the needs of operational units in the Southeast Asia ( SEA ) war zone . Areas such as Electronic warfare ( ECM ) ( Douglas EB - 66 Destroyer ) were greatly expanded in response to the North Vietnamese Surface - to - air missile ( SAM ) air defense systems . The modification of transports ( AC - 130 Hercules , AC - 119 Flying Boxcar ) into gunships , improved reconnaissance sensors , the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program , Forward Looking Infrared Sensors ( FURS ) , and Precision - guided munition s all represented significant AFSC contributions to Air Force operations in Southeast Asia . The sustained growth of Soviet power after the Cuban missile crisis challenged the entire spectrum of U . S . military capabilities . These factors led to a new wave of Air Force weapons development beginning in the late 1960s . Systems Command found itself managing a broad array of new tactical and strategic programs including the McDonnell Douglas F - 15 Eagle , General Dynamics F - 16 Fighting Falcon fighters , the Fairchild Republic A - 10 Thunderbolt II ground support aircraft , the LGM - 118 Peacekeeper , the AGM - 86 ( air ) and BGM - 109 ( ground ) cruise missiles , the Boeing E - 3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System , the Boeing C - 17 Globemaster III transport , the Rockwell B - 1 Lancer bomber , and a new generation of orbiting Reconnaissance satellite s . These programs were the main activities of AFRC during the 1970s . With the Reagan Administration ' s military buildup during the 1980s , the pace and scope of Air Force acquisition again escalated . Now the focus centered on the modernization of strategic systems which had atrophied during the Vietnam era and afterward . But increased activity and defense spending brought acquisition reform issues to the forefront . Cost , schedule , and quality problems troubled some major weapons programs . Media stories about spare parts overpricing and questionable contractor overhead charges created a national sensation . This negative publicity , coupled with soaring federal deficits and reductions in domestic spending , contributed by the middle of the decade to a political backlash against Ronald Reagan ' s military programs . The situation gave enormous political impetus to reductions of defense spending and an overhaul of the nation ' s military establishment , including its weapons acquisition practices . AFSC led the way for acquisition improvements with greater reliance on multi - year contracting to stabilize weapons programs and increased investment in modernization programs for the defense industrial base . During this turbulent period , new and updated weapons systems continued to upgrade our forces . The B - 1B Lancer was delivered to SAC in record time . Stealth technology , born in the AFSC laboratories in the 1960s , found its way to the ramps in the form of the F - 117 Nighthawk fighter and the B - 2 Spirit bomber . After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster , AFSC helped restore the nation ' s space launch capability by quickly making available a family of new expendable launch vehicles such as the Delta II . Major gains were made in operational readiness rates through the Reliability and Maintainability ( R & M ) 2000 program . Inactivation . With the 1992 reorganization of the Air Force , the functions of AFSC and Air Force Logistics Command ( AFLC ) were once again merged into the new Air Force Materiel Command ( AMC ) .