Air Armament Center | |
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AIM-120 AMRAAM air-air missile developed at the Air Armament Center
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Active | 16 October 1943 - 18 July 2012 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Role | Weapons Sustainment |
Part of | Air Force Material Command |
Garrison/HQ | Eglin Air Force Base |
Insignia | |
Air Armament Center emblem |
The Air Armament Center (AAC) was an Air Force Material Command (AFMC) center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, responsible for development, acquisition, testing, and deployment of all air-delivered weapons for the U.S. Air Force. Weapon systems maintained by the center included the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, High-speed anti-radiation missile, HARM Targeting System, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition, Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, Sensor Fuzed Weapon, and the Small Diameter Bomb. The Air Armament Center was inactivated as an AFMC center on July 18, 2012 and its functions merged into the former 96th Air Base Wing at Eglin AFB. The new organization was renamed as the 96th Test Wing (96 TW) the same day as a subordinate command of the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
To accomplish its mission the Air Armament Center commanded three wings through 2010.
On 27 October 1942 the United States Army Air Forces established the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Airbase, Florida. The next year, it was redesignated as the Army Air Forces Tactical Center, on 16 October 1943. In the last days of the war, it was redesignated the Army Air Forces Center, and documentation of the period appears to indicate that the AAF Proving Ground Command at Eglin Field, Florida and the Army Air Forces Center at Orlando AAB were merged as Army Air Forces Center on 1 June 1945.