Rome Laboratory (Rome Air Development Center until 1991) is the US "Air Force 'superlab' for command, control, and communications" research and development and is responsible for planning and executing the USAF science and technology program.

Organization

Rome Lab includes or included the following entities: ;Information Directorate: The Information Directorate develops information technologies for air, space and ground systems, partnering with other federal agencies, allied nations, state and local governments, and more than 50 major universities. The Rome Laboratory Technical Library is located at 525 Brooks Road, Rome, NY. ;Sensors Directorate: Moved to Wright-Patterson AFB under the

1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission preliminary list was released by the United States Department of Defense in 1995 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It recommended closing 32 major United States military bases. ...

Divisions and laboratories of the former Rome Air Development Center (RADC) included the Electronic Warfare Laboratory, High Power Laboratory, Photonics Laboratory, 1968 Electronics Laboratory (dedicated 25 October), RADC Systems Division, and the Communications and Control Division which moved from building 106 to building 3 in March 1976. (RADC computer facilities were in bldg 3, which in August 1974 had "a new $2.8 million communications research laboratory".)

History

The Rome Air Depot established 5 February 1942 built

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

versions of the

Norden bombsight The Norden Mk. XV, known as the Norden M series in U.S. Army service, is a bombsight that was used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and t ...

s and tested/rebuilt large airplane engines, and

Army Air Field, Rome An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, was established as a WWII USAAF airfield in New York on 4 Nov 1942. World War II technical squadrons included the "600 Engrg Sq" (10 Oct 44-30 Oct 44) and the "1 Acft Assembly Sq" (21 Aug 45-6 Nov 45). Renamed

Griffiss Air Force Base Griffiss Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force installation in the northeastern United States, located in Central New York state at Rome, about northwest of Utica. Missions included fighter interceptors, electronic research, ...

on 23 Jan 1948, the World War II installation's buildings were used as post-war offices and laboratories, e.g., for testing units that arrived beginning in 1948 from Pennsylvania's Middletown Air Depot (Griffiss had the "2 Msl Trpt Sq" 26 Jan 48-3 Sep 48.) The 3171st Electronics Research Group activated on 12 January 1949 under the 2751st Experimental Wing formed during World War II, and the

3180th Weapon Equipment Flight Test Year 318 (Roman numerals, CCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Licinianus and Crispus (or, less frequently, ye ...

organization activated on 4 April 1949. On September 26, 1950, the Griffiss AFB Air Force Electronics Center was established—2 Griffiss radar units were established on 12 Oct 50 for less than a year, the 7th and 12th Radar Calibration Units. The entire Watson Laboratories, which was acquiring the "state-of-the-art"

Bendix AN/FPS-3 Radar The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States, ...

for Air Defense Command, transferred to Griffiss from Camp Coles NJ, from 6 November 1950 until 2 April 1951, the date Griffiss AFB transferred to

Air Research and Development 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. Ove ...

. During the move the 3151st Electronics Group was activated on 14 March 1951.

RADC

The "Rome Air Development Center" headquarters officially opened on June 12, 1951, with the personnel of the headquarters for the 2751st Wing and 3171st & 3151st groups, which were "discontinued"—the 6530th Air Base Wing with subordinate units, e.g., Maintenance and Support Group, activated on the same date for support through August/November 1952. RADC was for USAF "applied research, development and test of electronic air-ground systems such as detection, control, identification and countermeasures, navigation, communications, and data transmission systems, associated components, and related automatic flight equipment". RADC constructed the

Forestport Tower Forestport Tower was a guyed, steel tower, insulated from the earth, so that the entire structure was used to radiate electromagnetic waves in the VLF (Very Low Frequency; 3 kHz to 30 kHz) and LF (Low Frequency; 30 kHz to 300 k ...

in 1951 for low-frequency communications experiments. On 1 January 1953, RADC reorganized into the Engineering Support Division, Electronic Warfare and Techniques Division, Equipment Development Division, and Systems Division (a Plans and Operations Office at the HQ provided guidance.) For ATC and SAC to score bombing accuracy, and based on the AN/MPQ-2; RADC integrated AN/MPS-9 radars with RBS plotting to create the AN/MSQ-1 (with OA-132 plotting computer/board)) and AN/MSQ-2 (OA-215)—RADC also developed SAC's "AN/GSA-19 Blanking System" for safety at RBS radar stations.http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA250435 RADC began using a new intelligence and reconnaissance laboratory building on 27 May 1954, and an AN/GPA-37 "developed by RADC ndinstalled at the Verona Test Site" conducted a 28 December 1955

ground-controlled interception Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is an air defence tactic whereby one or more radar stations or other observational stations are linked to a command communications centre which guides interceptor aircraft to an airborne target. This tactic was ...

test "on an

F-86D The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog",) was an American transonic jet fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was an interceptor ...

fighter interceptor aircraft". Also in 1955 RADC developed

phased array radar A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscillat ...

technology, and the center contracted Bendix's Radio Division in 1958 to build the Bendix AN/FPS-46 Electronically Steerable Array Radar (ESAR) for demonstration (1st "powered up" in November 1960.) A prototype AN/FPS-43 BMEWS radar completed at

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in 1958 went operational on February 4, 1959, the date of an

Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. The Atlas II was a direct evolution of the Atlas I, featuring longer first stage tanks, higher-performing engine ...

B firing from Cape Canaveral

Launch Complex 11 Launch Complex 11 (LC-11) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, is a launch complex used by SM-65 Atlas, Atlas missiles between 1958 and 1964. It is the southernmost of the launch pads known as Missile Row. When it was built, it, along ...

(lunar reflection was tested January–June 1960.) On 20 January 1960 RADC accepted the Avco AN/FPS-26 Frequency Diversity Radar from

Avco Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...

for use at

SAGE radar stations The SAGE radar stations of Air Defense Command (Aerospace Defense Command after 1968) were the military installations operated by USAF squadrons using the 1st automated air defense environment (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) and networked by t ...

(later modified into the 474N "Fuzzy-7" SLBM Detection Radar.)

AFCCDD assignment

On 1 July 1960, RADC was assigned to the

Air Force Command and Control Development Division The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Gravity of Earth, Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating Atmo ...

and , RADC conducted an "Experimental Passive-Satellite Communication Link" using the ECHO satellite and

Philco Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics industry, electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased ...

terminals for reflecting voice transmissions through space from the

Trinidad Space Communication Facility Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

(with " BMEWS type radar tracker" using "AN/FRC-56 type" transmitter and "84FT DISH") to the "RADC Floyd Site".Article title
In August 1962, RADC established the "AFLC Communications-Electronics Field Office" to monitor missile tests. A "60-foot-diameter" antenna at the Floyd site built by RADC "particularly to communicate with ECHO II" was dedicated on 30 August 1963. In 1965 based on the USMC AN/MPQ-14, the " SKYSPOT RADC developmental program" designed the AN/MSQ-77 with ballistic computer for

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

high-altitude, low-visibility (e.g., nighttime, inclement weather) strategic bombing missions, and which was also used as a " Close Air Support Bombing System".

RTD assignment

By June 1965, RADC was assigned to AFSC's Research and Technology Division and had a Communications Research Branch (an early 1960s plan to rename RADC to the Air Force Electromagnetics Laboratory was not implemented.) RADC's

Program 673A Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Programm ...

research resulted in the 440L System Program Office for the

Forward Scatter Over-the-Horizon network Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

AN/FRT-80 transmitters & AN/FSQ-76 receivers)
being established on 1 July 1965 (RADC's "Data Reduction Center" processed 440L data transmitted to the

Cheyenne Mountain Complex The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a Space Force installation and defensive bunker located in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to the city of Colorado Springs, at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, which hosts the activities o ...

. RADC developed a 1960s

machine translation Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT (not to be confused with computer-aided translation, machine-aided human translation or interactive translation), is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates t ...

for Russian language documents and in the late 1960s, RADC coordinated the

Ling-Temco-Vought Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2000. At its peak, it was involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, amo ...

AN/TRN-26 deployable

TACAN A tactical air navigation system, commonly referred to by the acronym TACAN, is a navigation system used by military aircraft. It provides the user with bearing and distance (slant-range or hypotenuse) to a ground or ship-borne station. It is a mor ...

development for the

(1st units went to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Camp David's "DVD" site.) In the 1970s

War On Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...

, RADC

COMPASS TRIP A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

research investigated "multispectral reconnaissance techniques to locate opium poppy fields". By December 1977 RADC had developed the 322 watt "solid state transmitter and receiver module" while "responsible for /nowiki>PAVE_PAWS.html" ;"title="PAVE_PAWS.html" ;"title="/nowiki>PAVE PAWS">/nowiki>PAVE PAWS">PAVE_PAWS.html" ;"title="/nowiki>PAVE PAWS">/nowiki>PAVE PAWSdesign, fabrication installation, integration test, and evaluation" (through 1980).

ESD assignment

On 1 September 1975, RADC was reassigned to AFSC's Electronic Systems Division (ESD). At Hanscom AFB on 1 January 1976, RADC's Detachment 1 was activated for "Electronic Technology" with the personnel and equipment of the 1960 Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory, AFCRL's Microwave Physics and Solid State Sciences divisions (" RADC East" colloq.) In the 1980s and 1990s RADC funded a significant amount of research on software engineering, e.g., the

Knowledge Based Software Assistant The Knowledge Based Software Assistant (KBSA) was a research program funded by the United States Air Force. The goal of the program was to apply concepts from artificial intelligence to the problem of designing and implementing computer software. So ...

(KBSA) program.

Rome Laboratory

In 1990 RADC was redesignated Rome Laboratory which in October 1997 became part of the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...

Rome Air Development Center annexes

1956-tbd: Floyd Test Annex -- from GAFB tbd: Newport Antenna Measurement Facility 1956-tbd: Verona Test Annex 1955-61:

Laredo Test Site Laredo may refer to: Places * Laredo, Cantabria, the original Spanish town with this name * Laredo District, La Libertad, Peru United States and Mexico * Laredo–Nuevo Laredo, a bi-national metropolitan area ** Laredo, Texas *** Downtown L ...

(to

ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...

) 1958-61:

(to

Patrick AFB Patrick Space Force Base is a United States Space Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, USAAC. It is home to Space Lau ...

) tbd-62: Carrabelle Experimental Annex (to

Eglin AFB Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The 9 ...

) 1962-5: Syracuse BMEWS Test Facility

Lineage

Organizations assigned to

1997: AFMC

1975: AFSC

Electronic Systems Division The Electronic Systems Center was a product center of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Its mission was to develop and acquire Command and Control (Military), command and control, communica ...

1965: AFSC Research and Technology Division
1960: ARDC

References

External links

*{{Official, https://www.afrl.af.mil/RI/ Research installations of the United States Air Force Rome, New York Organizations based in New York (state)