AFFTC to be re-designated as Air Force Test Center

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EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) --  The Air Force Flight Test Center will be re-designated as the Air Force Test Center during a ceremony here July 13.

Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command, will preside over the ceremony.

During the ceremony, the 95th Air Base Wing will transition to the 412th Test Wing, although both unit changes became effective July 6.

The Air Force Test Center will play a critical role in developmental test and evaluation for AFMC's air and ground systems and is an essential cornerstone to the command's consolidation initiative from 12 centers to five. The 5-Center construct will increase efficiencies, reduce redundancies in management overhead and in acquisitions processes, and save approximately $109 million annually.

Ultimately, the consolidation ensures the command will improve the way it accomplishes the mission, providing better support to the warfighter, officials said.

Brig. Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. will lead the center and will oversee work at not only Edwards Air Force Base, but also at Eglin AFB, Fla., and Arnold AFB, Tenn., which was re-designated the Arnold Engineering and Development Complex on July 6. At Eglin AFB, the 96th Air Base Wing will be re-designated the 96th Test Wing on July 18. Missions at each location will continue.

In addition to the Air Force Test Center, the Air Force Sustainment Center at Tinker AFB, Okla.; the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; and the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., make up AFMC's 5-Center construct.

Initial operation capability is scheduled for October 1, officials said, with full operational capability planned for mid-2013.

(Courtesy of 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs.)