Newark AFB, Ohio = Aerospace Guidance & Metrology Center (AGMC)

The installation was opened in 1962 and designated as the 2802nd Inertial Guidance and Calibration Group, Newark Air Force Station. In 1968, the installation was formally re­commissioned the Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center (AGMC). The 2803 Air Base Group was established in 1973 and the installation was redesignated Newark Air Force Base. In 1992 Newark AFB changed from the AFLC to the AFMC.

The center is situated in central Ohio, 30 miles east of Columbus. It is located in Licking County, six miles north of I­70, on the southern border of the city of Heath.

The installation covers about 70 acres and includes facilities and plant equipment in the Directorates of Maintenance and Metrology, which are valued at $279M. Maintenance operations are housed in a wide­span building covering more than 16 acres with over 205,932 SF of environmentally controlled areas. These areas include 90 clean rooms in which temperature and humidity are rigidly controlled and airborne particles are measured and controlled (182,571 SF) and nine other areas in which only temperature and humidity (23,361 SF) are controlled. Most of the environmentally controlled areas in maintenance consist of separate buildings within the main structure. Metrology operations include over 54,000 SF of temperature and humidity controlled areas.

AGMC employed 1,500 civilians, 75 active duty military personnel, and 114 reservists. The center has an annual payroll of $79M. The total work force population at AGMC is drawn from 11 surrounding counties: 74 percent Licking County, 20 percent Franklin, Muskingum, and Perry counties and the remaining 6 percent from seven other counties. Center employees are highly skilled. Over 46 percent of them are in critical skills such as mechanics, electronics, engineering and instrumentation. Twenty percent have a bachelors degree or above. An additional ten percent have an associates degree from one of three area technical colleges or have three to four years of college credit. Fifty percent of the center's work force have some college.

AGMC was the single center within the Air Force for repairing inertial guidance and inertial navigation systems for aircraft (F­16, F­111, F­4, F­15, C­141, F­117A, A­10, B­1B, B­52, KC­135, C­5, C­130, A­7, EH­60) and missiles (MINUTEMAN I Re-Entry System Launch Program (RSLP), PEACEKEEPER, Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM)). Interservice workloads are Army Position Azimuth Determining System (PADS) for ground and air fire control, and OV­1D, Navy 688 Class attack submarine and Navy ships. We provide a full range of engineering and consultation services on inertial systems to the Air Force and other DOD agencies. In addition to inertial guidance and navigation systems and displacement gyroscopes, AGMC's mission has been expanded to include aircraft attitude, heading and reference systems, atomic clocks, borescopes, fuel saving computers, test measurement and diagnostic equipment (TMDE) software development and management, test program sets (TPS) development, and technical repair center for Air Force ring laser gyro. The center is also the command's technology center for electrostatic discharge (ESD) control.

The center was also the technical manager of the Air Force Metrology and Calibration (AFMETCAL) program. The AFMETCAL program is an infrastructure of people, equipment, facilities, procedures, and processes. It insures that measurement quality, standardization, traceability, and TMDE sustainment exist throughout the Air Force.

The mission includes acquisition of calibration standards and TMDE by AGMC. These items are required for the precision measurement equipment laboratories (PMEL) to sustain the equipment belonging to TMDE owners and users worldwide and to develop the capability to meet future demands of evolving/developing weapon systems and equipment. The overall mission of the AFMETCAL program is to ensure Air Force systems and equipment are accurate, uniform, and traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or other DOD-approved sources. The directorate is organized to operate the Air Force Measurement Standards Laboratory; provide engineering and technical services to field operating PMELs and system program offices; budget and buy calibration standards for all Air Force PMELs; author, publish, and distribute calibration technical manuals; provide calibration services to PMELs; operate an exchange standards program for Air Force Base reference standards; develop and maintain PMEL management and operations tools; provide periodic on-site assessment assistance and certification to PMELs; assess weapon system calibration and measurement requirements to plan for development, equipment acquisition, and support; provide single point activity for obtaining Air Force calibration services from the NIST; interface with the international logistics community to plan PMEL support for foreign military sales customers; interface with the Army and Navy metrology and calibration programs to avoid duplication and determine lead service activity for funding NIST research and development (R&D) for new support requirements; and manage R&D projects for development of new calibration standards and methods.

The Directorate of Metrology supports and provides program management oversight and coordination with 3,000 civilian and military personnel in 184 laboratories throughout the Air Force. Those field activities and laboratory resources belong to major commands (MAJCOM), including AFMC, which currently owns and operates 12 calibration laboratories plus the Air Force Measurement Standards Laboratory at AGMC. Base laboratories calibrate and repair TMDE for all Air Force activities on their base and in the local area. Some PMELs are more specialized than others; some are tailored for specific weapon system support; and some have mobility commitments. Air Force-wide, those laboratories conduct over one million calibration and repair actions each year.