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).

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.

"This history narrates major activities undertaken in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and its predecessors dating back to 1917." -- Page i.

With a team of more than 5,200 scientists, engineers, and support personnel worldwide, the Air Force Research Laboratory is one of the most exciting organizations in the Air Force. AFRL team members are up close and personal with the discovery, development, and integration of cutting-edge technologies for today, tomorrow, and well into the future. AFRL is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and is the Air Force's largest employer of scientist and engineers-about 3,000-of which more than 800 have doctorate degrees in science and engineering disciplines. These highly skilled and motivated people are critical in leading our government- industry- university team and in making technological and scientific breakthroughs. Our scientists and engineers push the limits of air and space, bringing critical technologies forward into the realm of application. This world-class laboratory harnesses the innovative ideas of the best minds in government, industry and academia to create the future of the Air Force. The men and women of AFRL defend America by unleashing the power of innovative science and technology. AFRL success Stories highlight the cutting-edge research performed within the laboratory. The following pages feature some of our most noteworthy successes during 2002. These stories are just the "tip of the iceberg" of AFRL technologies currently under development.

These viewgraphs discuss the organization of the Air Force Research Laboratory throughout the world, Air Force research, science and technology and program structure, operating tenets, international cooperation, international science and technology, evolving technology, research projects and contracts and grants.