 Systems Command headquarters at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington, D.C. is the NERV Center of Air Force Research, Development, Test, Evaluation, Contracting, and Manufacturing. The mission of Systems Command is to advance aerospace technology, apply advances to operational hardware, and acquire superior quality equipment and materials that are affordable and maintainable. In short, we provide the Air Force with the scientific and technical resources to play its role in defending this nation and its people. That's the key word, people. People like these make Systems Command work. The clerks, secretaries, technicians, engineers, scientists, and managers, both military and civilian, more than 50,000 of us at our laboratories, divisions, test centers, and ranges around the world and across the nation, located among 110 installations. AFSE has less than 10% of Air Force manpower, yet in recent years it has managed more than 30% of the Air Force budget. We're staffed with some of the finest talent available. For example, of AFSE science and engineering officers, more than 60% hold master's degrees, while almost 10% have PhD degrees. Of these civilian scientists and engineers, a third have advanced degrees. Let's take a look at what these people do. AFSE's Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, just outside Dayton, Ohio, monitors potential threat from weapons technology around the world. 11 to 14% of the Soviet gross national product is devoted to military spending. This is reflected in technological advances in Soviet weaponry. It all adds up to a very significant military posture. Part of FTD's job is to prevent surprise by anticipating developments in any foreign weaponry. To counter foreign technology, we apply our own vast technical know-how to maintain our qualitative superiority. AFSE's laboratory complexes together with industry and colleges around the country cooperate in developing new technology to meet current and future needs. From Systems Command Headquarters, the Director of Science and Technology provides policy, planning, and technical direction for all phases of the command's research and development program through its many laboratories throughout the United States. This management is geared for rapid response to the changing needs of the Air Force. Exploration of new technology must contribute to aerospace needs without sacrificing the benefits of basic research. The goal is a better relationship between the research laboratories and weapons development activities. The scope of this management effort includes a wide variety of programs. Lasers, for example. Our people are broadening the use of lasers for target tracking and designation, for communications, for manufacturing. Other uses also are being explored, developed, and applied. An example is this airborne laser laboratory. The traditional edge of American know-how is coming to bear in materials and process research, such as these advanced composites. Through carefully focused systems-oriented management, new materials and manufacturing techniques are brought together to produce less expensive, lighter, stronger components, complex shapes, and special purpose structures. As materials and processes improve, aircraft emerge that demand a new breed of aviation electronics we call avionics. The key word is standardization. The head-up display presents the pilot information for flying the aircraft, as well as combat information. Our goal is one set of avionics for all tactical aircraft, one set for airlift aircraft, and one for strategic aircraft. In the future, there will be a micro-miniature avionics set for all aircraft. People in the applied research labs working with industry turn advanced concepts into realities. For example, we've developed a new flight control system. It's called Vectored Lift, and it's part of the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration Study. The Vectored Lift control concept involves no speed brakes, ailerons or flaps, and only six control surfaces instead of the usual ten. The aircraft can change altitude without tilting its nose. It can move sideways without banking, and it can steer with wings level. No need for bank-to-turn maneuvers. The aircraft use-a-lies can be aimed independent of the flight path. The pilot retains direct control of the flight path at all times. These new flight freedoms promise new capabilities for future fighter attack systems. The Rome Air Development Center has facilities at both Griffiths Air Force Base, New York, and Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. The center is responsible for devising electromagnetic concepts, devices, and techniques for communication, surveillance, and computer systems. In its primary role as an AFSC laboratory, the center is in the forefront of developing electronic technology. In addition, the Rome Air Development Center conducts tests and evaluation, and performs selected acquisitions. An example of an experimental multi-mission aircraft is the mini-remotely-piloted vehicle. This technology reflects our research in the field of mini-RPVs for use in high-threat combat environments. Launched from the safety of a rear area in large numbers, the mini-RPVs are pre-programmed to seek out an loiter over an area for an extended period. They are not intended for recovery. The Air Force plans to proceed with full-scale development. Aphasis is on low cost, large numbers, and high sortie rates. Plans include launching mini-RPVs in large numbers to form an airborne minefield over target areas. These expendable vehicles can suppress defenses that are a threat to our fighters in highly defended target areas. Another example of applied research is simulation. We're learning how much realism is needed for effective pilot training to ease the transition from simulator to actual cockpit. Simulators provide safe low-cost training for new pilots and a chance for seasoned pilots to keep air-to-air combat skills at their peak. Of growing importance in the conservation of energy, simulators use far less energy than actual flight. Our research people are constantly probing the feasibility of new technology applications. Advanced propulsion systems. Our laboratories are studying rocket-motor component performance. New reusable facilities produce results without actually launching a missile. The information gathered will be applied to MX, the next generation of intercontinental ballistic missile. All of this systems research includes man at some point. Headquartered near San Antonio, Texas, AFSE's Aerospace Medical Division explores human endurance, the ability to take stress of various kinds. We're examining ways of supporting life in exotic, often hostile environments. The vacuum and intense cold of high altitude in space, high speed, and high G-forces. Air Force Systems Command also trains medical personnel, develops new medical equipment and operates Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, the Air Force's largest hospital. This sophisticated medical center is equipped for kidney transplants, open-heart surgery and it sponsors a Department of Defense iBank. The Air Force Contract Management Division near Albuquerque supports the management of the thousands of contracts, monitors progress, quality, and contractor performance. Beneficiaries of their work are the American taxpayers and national defense. AFSE has five product divisions. They transform new technology from the laboratories into new or improved systems for operational forces. They develop and acquire new weapons systems and related equipment and improve the capabilities of those already in use. The actual work is contracted to American industry. The Aeronautical Systems Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is responsible for a wide range of programs. The F-16 Air Combat Fighter in its air combat role compliments the F-15 Eagle. Air superiority is a crucial part of the military operations book. We develop new weapons systems to counter the threat of advanced enemy aircraft. This mission demands aircraft like the F-16, highly maneuverable, fast, and capable of carrying a wide variety of armament. For a multi-mission situation, the F-16 is a low-cost high-performance fighter that functions in both the air superiority and close air support roles. It will fill requirements in this country and in NATO for many years to come. Air superiority allows the commander to support ground operations effectively. A vital role of this A-10 close air support aircraft is its ability to destroy heavily armored targets. The A-10 is the first major effort by AFSE to produce a weapon system by the design-to-cost method. Design-to-cost combines the elements of performance, schedule, and price to obtain an optimum system. This concept is part of what we call life-cycle costing, our way of predicting the total cost of a system over its entire lifetime. We consider not only the purchase price, but maintenance, training, support, and all the factors that go into operating the system in the field. In keeping with the Department of Defense Try Before Buy policy, contracts are let for building prototypes. In this case, cruise missiles, such as the AGM-86B and the AGM-109. Selected companies compete to produce the specified system economically while meeting established performance goals. Only after extensive test and evaluation is the winner chosen and production begun. In this case, Boeing Aerospace Company was selected. Competition keeps costs down and produces a higher quality product. The Space Division in Los Angeles is another AFSE product division. It acquires and manages the major portion of Department of Defense Space Satellite programs. For example, systems that provide up-to-the-minute weather information from satellites circling the globe. The Evening Television Weather Report frequently includes a satellite view of Earth's cloud cover. Another advance is the NavStar Global Positioning System. It will consist of three rings of satellites circling the Earth. With the NavStar receiver, aircraft, ground forces, and ships can find their speed, height, and location within 52 feet. Our Ballistic Missile Office near San Bernardino, California is managing development of the new mobile experimental intercontinental ballistic missile called MX. This new generation ICBM carries four times the payload of present strategic missiles. It is far more accurate than any previous ICBM. Here an MX upper-stage rocket motor is being tested at the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory. Today's weapons technology involves not only aircraft, but highly sophisticated electronics. These programs are managed by the Electronic Systems Division near Boston. This is the E3A Airborne Warning and Control System used for air defense and tactical control. It can go anywhere in the world in a matter of hours to coordinate our operational forces. It can also manage large-scale disaster relief efforts. Another ESD development is the Electronic Systems for this advanced airborne command post. The systems are designed for directing our response to strategic threat. For example, in event of an enemy attack. Electronic Systems Division is also completing development of a continental defense radar program called PAVE PAWS. This system maintains surveillance on both the east and west coasts against submarine-launched ballistic missile attack. PAVE PAWS gives us an edge that could prove crucial. The Armament Division at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida is another AFSC product division. And one of our most complete and sophisticated centers. It not only develops and acquires non-nuclear weapons, but tests a large variety of them under stringent field conditions. Operational realism is the acid test. The systems provided by the people of AFSC are tested at our worldwide network of ranges and test centers. Cost-effective management of weapons demands great emphasis on continual test and evaluation. Far more than simply verifying that the equipment performs as required, we assure that munitions and other systems are reliable and can be supported in the field. The test and evaluation process answers more than the question, does it work? It seeks to determine that it can be operated economically and efficiently. Here at Arnold Engineering Development Center at Telehoma, Tennessee, we run a number of large and small wind tunnels. They can simulate flight at all altitudes and at supersonic as well as subsonic speeds. We test everything from full-scale jet engines to small mottles of aircraft, rockets, and even projectiles. At the Air Force Flight Test Center in the California desert, full-scale experimental vehicles are tested. Aircraft are deliberately stressed and flown beyond operational requirements to prove they can take it. When these tests reveal unexpected characteristics, techniques or modifications are developed to make them safe and effective. On the Pacific Coast, AFSC's Space Division operates the Air Force Satellite Control Facility at Sunnyvale, California, and the Space and Missile Test Organization, or SAMTO, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SAMTO operates the Western Space and Missile Center. In addition to its role in managing weapons tests downrange into the Pacific and satellite launches, the center is one of the launch and recovery sites for the Space Shuttle. This joint Air Force NASA program included testing the craft at the Flight Test Center. Both the Western Space and Missile Center and the Eastern Space and Missile Center are intended for launch and recovery of the Space Shuttle. It will perform a variety of different missions. On its return to Earth, the craft will land on a 15,000-foot runway, much like conventional aircraft. Our Eastern Space and Missile Center in Florida is already famous for its space launches. Here, under the management of SAMTO, our people operate a 10,000-mile range stretching across the Atlantic and into the Indian Ocean. It supports the Air Force, Navy, Army, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and support for certain foreign space activities. For nearly 30 years, this has been the center of free-world space launches. Well over 2,000 launches have taken place here, both manned and unmanned. Vanguard, Project Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and unmanned space probes for scientific study to our neighbor planets and into deep space. And so it goes, methodical, painstaking research and testing, moments of inspiration, hours of quiet, careful work by dedicated people in areas such as medicine, biology, physics, aerodynamics, electronics, armament, flight test, and management. That all-important guiding force that weaves together this vast and complex effort to bring the Air Force and this nation the most effective defense system at the lowest possible cost. This is Air Force Systems Command.