Rome Laboratory
{{Short description|US Air Force research laboratory in Rome, New York}}
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{{Unreliable sources|date=December 2022}}
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{{Infobox military installation
| name = Rome Research Site
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| country = the United States
| image = File:Verona Test Annex, New York.jpg
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| caption = The Verona Test Annex, a satellite site of Rome Research Site located some {{Convert|11|miles|km|abbr=}} south-west of Rome.
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| type = Military research laboratory
| coordinates = {{Coord|43|13|16.9|N|75|24|30.8|W|display=inline, title}}
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| pushpin_map = USA
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| pushpin_map_caption = Location in the United States
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| pushpin_label = Rome
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| ownership = Department of Defense
| operator = US Air Force (USAF)
| controlledby = Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)
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| built = {{Start date|1942}} (as Rome Air Depot)
| used = 1942 – present
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| condition = Operational
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| occupants = Information Directorate of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
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| website = {{URL|https://www.afrl.af.mil/RI/}}
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Rome Laboratory (Rome Air Development Center until 1991) is a U.S. Air Force research laboratory for "command, control, and communications"{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-0zcRoFnGYC&q=%22Air+Force+%E2%80%9Dsuperlab%E2%80%9D+for+Command,+Control%22&pg=PT132 |title = 2001 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Aircraft Technology Program|isbn = 9780309183291|last3 = Board|first3 = Naval Studies|date = 2001-09-27| publisher=National Academies Press }} research and development and is responsible for planning and executing the USAF science and technology program.
It is located at Griffiss International Airport, New York. The Griffiss airfield was previous Griffiss Air Force Base for decades.
History
The Rome Air Depot, established 5 February 1942 built U.S. versions of the British Norden bombsights and tested/rebuilt large airplane engines.{{r|Mueller}} From 1945 offices and laboratories were set up in buildings constructed during the war.
The base was renamed Griffiss Air Force Base on 23 Jan 1948.{{r|Mueller}}
Approximately mid-1948, Griffiss AFB received electronics research and development responsibilities from Headquarters, Air Materiel Command. The resources
would come from Watson Laboratories and the Middletown testing units at Middletown, Pennsylvania (Middletown Air Depot).{{r|SmithByrd}} Personnel from Middletown arrived at Griffiss AFB as early as 1948. On 6 July 1950, the Senate Committee on Armed Services recommended the establishment of an "Air Force Electronics Center" at Griffiss AFB. President Truman signed the resulting bill on 26 September 1950, and the transfer of Watson Laboratories to Griffiss AFB, beginning on 29 November of the same year, was completed on 14 February 1951. Griffiss AFB was assigned to the Air Research and Development Command on 2 April 1951. On 12 June 1951, Rome Air Development Center (RADC) was officially established.
The 3171st Electronics Research Group activated on 12 January 1949 under the 2751st Experimental Wing formed during World War II,{{r|Mueller}} and the 3180th Weapon Equipment Flight Test organization activated on 4 April 1949.{{r|Mueller}} On September 26, 1950, the Griffiss AFB Air Force Electronics Center was establishedCongressional Bill TBD from a Senate Armed Services Committee recommendation—2 Griffiss radar units were established on 12 Oct 50 for less than a year, the 7th and 12th Radar Calibration Units.{{r|Mueller}} The entire Watson Laboratories, which was acquiring the "state-of-the-art" Bendix AN/FPS-3 Radar for Air Defense Command, transferred to Griffiss{{Cite report |last=Greenslit |first=Chuck |title=Bendix Radio Radars |quote=Based on a newly developed Litton klystron and the experience of Bob Davis, a new high powered radar, the FPS-20, was conceived. This was developed, first as a GPA-27 kit to upgrade the FPS-3 and later manufactured as the FPS-20, FPS-20a, FPS-66-67, and FPS-100.}} from Camp Coles NJ,{{Cite web|url=https://cecom.army.mil/historian/pubupdates/Fort_Monmouth_Timeline_07_22_05.doc|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140615095945/http://cecom.army.mil/historian/pubupdates/Fort_Monmouth_Timeline_07_22_05.doc|url-status=live|archive-date=2014-06-15|title=Fort Monmouth Timeline|date=June 15, 2014|website=archive.ph}} from 6 November 1950 until 2 April 1951, the date Griffiss AFB transferred to Air Research and Development Command.{{r|SmithByrd}} During the move the 3151st Electronics Group was activated on 14 March 1951.{{r|Mueller}}
=Rome Air Development Center =
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. These three HQs were discontinued.{{r|SmithByrd}} The 6530th Air Base Wing with subordinate units, e.g., Maintenance and Support Group, were activated on the same date for support through August/November 1952.{{r|Mueller}} The centre 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".The source for this quotation is not identified in Forty Years of Research and Development at Griffis Air Force Base. RADC constructed the {{Convert|1205|ft|abbr=on|adj=on}} Forestport Tower 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.){{r|SmithByrd}}
For Air Training Command and Strategic Air Command to score bombing accuracy, and based on the AN/MPQ-2; RADC integrated{{r|ADA250435}} 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)[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/combatevaluationgroup/message/23682 MSQ-1's married The MPS-9 to the OA-132 MSQ-2's married the MPS-9 to the OA-215]—RADC also developed SAC's "AN/GSA-19 Blanking System" for safety at RBS radar stations.{{Cite web| url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA250435 | title=Forty years of research and development at Griffiss Air force base | access-date=2014-06-14 | archive-date=2013-04-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408131948/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA250435 | url-status=dead}} RADC began using a new intelligence and reconnaissance laboratory building on 27 May 1954,{{r|Mueller}} and an AN/GPA-37 "developed by RADC [and] installed at the Verona Test Site" conducted a 28 December 1955 ground-controlled interception test "on an F-86D fighter interceptor aircraft". Also in 1955 RADC developed phased array radar 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{{Cite web | url=http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675069283_Spacetrack-Radar_Eglin-Air-Force-Base_construction-at-base_men-at-work | title=A man [is] surveying and aligning each member on the 45DG scanner face with delicate optical equipment}} (1st "powered up" in November 1960.){{Cite web | url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/an-fps-85.htm |title = AN/FPS-85 Spacetrack Radar}}
A prototype AN/FPS-43 BMEWS radar{{Cite book |author=Bate, Mueller, and White |year=1971 |orig-year=origyear tbd |title=Fundamentals of Astronautics |publisher=Courier Corporation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtJK8cetqGkC&q=an%2Ffps-92&pg=PA133 |format=Google books |access-date=2014-03-05 |quote=BMEWS…fan-shaped beams, about 1° in width and 3½° in elevation… The horizontal sweep rate is fast enough that a missile or satellite cannot pass through the fans undetected.|isbn=9780486600611 }} completed at Trinidad in 1958 went operational on February 4, 1959, the date of an Atlas IIB firing from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 11{{Cite web | url=http://www.siloworld.net/MISSILE%20%20LAUNCHES/CAPE/Launches/atlas__b.htm | title=Atlas B}} (lunar reflection was tested January–June 1960.){{Cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/265165.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311181855/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/265165.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-03-11|title=Article title}} On 20 January 1960 RADC accepted the Avco AN/FPS-26 Frequency Diversity Radar from Avco{{r|SmithByrd}} for use at SAGE radar stations (later modified into the 474N "Fuzzy-7" SLBM Detection Radar.){{technical inline|date=September 2015}}
== Command and Control development ==
On 1 July 1960, RADC was assigned to the Air Force Command and Control Development Division.{{r|DelPapa}} In late 1960, RADC conducted an "Experimental Passive-Satellite Communication Link" using the Project Echo satellite and Philco terminals for voice transmissions through space from the Trinidad Space Communication Facility to the RADC's Floyd site.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/619222.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170104/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/619222.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-07-14|title=Article title}} Carried out with "BMEWS type radar tracker" using "AN/FRC-56 type" transmitter and "84FT DISH." In August 1962, RADC established the "AFLC Communications-Electronics Field Office" to monitor missile tests.{{r|Mueller}}
A "60-foot-diameter" antenna at the Floyd site built by RADC "particularly to communicate with ECHO II" was dedicated on 30 August 1963.[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Rome%20NY%20Daily%20Sentinel/Rome%20NY%20Daily%20Sentinel%201963/Rome%20NY%20Daily%20Sentinel%201963%20-%203917.pdf PASSIVE SATELLITE RESEARCH TERMINAL] 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 high-altitude, low-visibility (e.g., nighttime, inclement weather) strategic bombing missions, and which was also used as a "Close Air Support Bombing System".{{r|SmithByrd}}
==RTD assignment==
By June 1965, RADC was assigned to AFSC's Research and Technology Division and had a Communications Research Branch{{r|Pratt}} (an early 1960s plan to rename RADC to the Air Force Electromagnetics Laboratory was not implemented.){{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} RADC's Program 673A research resulted in the 440L System Program Office for the Forward Scatter Over-the-Horizon network ([http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/projects.html AN/FRT-80 transmitters & AN/FSQ-76 receivers)] being established on 1 July 1965 (RADC's "Data Reduction Center"{{Where|reason=On Griffiss AFB, or at an off-base annex?|date=June 2012}} processed 440L data transmitted to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.{{Cite NORAD Historical Summary |year=1965B |accessdate=date tbd}}
RADC developed a 1960s machine translation for Russian language documents and in the late 1960s, RADC coordinated the Ling-Temco-Vought AN/TRN-26 deployable TACAN{{Cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/an-trn-26.htm|title = AN/TRN-26 (Deployable TACAN)}} development for the Vietnam War (1st units went to Israel and Camp David's "DVD" site.){{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} In the 1970s War On Drugs, RADC COMPASS TRIP research investigated "multispectral reconnaissance techniques to locate opium poppy fields".{{r|SmithByrd}} By December 1977 RADC had developed{{r|SmithByrd}} the 322 watt "solid state transmitter and receiver module"{{Cite report |author=Engineering Panel on the PAVE PAWS Radar System |year=1979 |title=Radiation Intensity of the PAVE PAWS Radar System |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a088323.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714130334/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a088323.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |number=ADA 088323 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=2014-06-05 }} while "responsible for {{bracket|PAVE PAWS}} design, fabrication installation, integration test, and evaluation" (through 1980).{{r|SmithByrd}}
==ESD assignment==
On 1 September 1975, RADC was reassigned to AFSC's Electronic Systems Division (ESD).{{r|DelPapa}} At Hanscom AFB on 1 January 1976, RADC's Detachment 1 was activated for "Electronic Technology" with the personnel and equipment of the 1960 AFCRL's Microwave Physics and Solid State Sciences divisions, known as "RADC East."{{r|DelPapa}}
In the 1980s and 1990s RADC funded a significant amount of research on software engineering, e.g., the Knowledge Based Software Assistant (KBSA) program.{{cite journal|last=Boehm|first=Barry|author2=Prasanta Bose |title=KBSA Life Cycle Evaluation: Final Technical Report|journal=Contract No: F30602-96-C-0274|date=1998-08-15|volume=I|url=http://csse.usc.edu/csse/event/1999/ARR/volumeI.pdf|access-date=4 January 2014|publisher=USC Center for Software Engineering}}
=Rome Laboratory=
In 1990 RADC was redesignated Rome Laboratory{{r|SmithByrd}} which in October 1997 became part of the Air Force Research Laboratory.{{US Air Force|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224062419/https://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsid=148|article=Air Force Research Laboratory }}
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.{{Cite web | url=http://www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/ri/ | title=Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613034523/http://www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/ri/ | archive-date=2016-06-13}} The Rome Laboratory Technical Library is located at 525 Brooks Road, Rome, NY.{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rome+Laboratory+Tech+Library/@43.2238021,-75.4124202,1055m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89d9143d1c10a90d:0x71530de1eb237bdf!8m2!3d43.2210852!4d-75.4090901?hl=en&shorturl=1|title=Rome Laboratory Tech Library · 525 Brooks Rd, Rome, NY 13441|website=Rome Laboratory Tech Library · 525 Brooks Rd, Rome, NY 13441}}
;Sensors Directorate: Moved to Wright-Patterson AFB under the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission
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".){{r|SmithByrd}}
Lineage
= Assignments =
- Air Force Command and Control Development Division, Air Research and Development Command, 1960
- Research and Technology Division, Air Force Systems Command, 1965
- Electronic Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, 1975
- Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, October 1997
References
{{Reflist |refs=
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External links
- {{Official website|https://www.afrl.af.mil/RI/}}
Category:Research installations of the United States Air Force