The Aerospace Defense Center (ADC) was a unit of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. It was under the command of the general that also commanded both

North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

and

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

(ADCOM). The center included the Office of Astrodynamics (ADC/DO6) (cites "Hilton, C.G. and Kuhlman, J.R., “Mathematical Models for the Space Defense Center”, Philco-Ford Publication No. U-3871, 17—28, November 1966." and the Office of History.compiled by

History

The center was formed as Aerospace Defense Command was being disestablished, and its other assets being transferred to

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

(October 1, 1979) and

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

. The Aerospace Defense Center as part of an "ad hoc working group" of personnel from

Air Force Systems 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 ...

and the

Office of the Secretary of the Air Force The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for the United States Air Force and United S ...

studied the 1982 proposal for "reorganization of USAF space management practices" by General Robert T. Marsh. Space Command was renamed

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

in 1985. After the Aerospace Defense Center was disestablished, aerospace defense history operations continued by the NORAD and

USNORTHCOM United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for Civil authority, non-military authorities in the U ...

Command History Office, and the

Office of History. The AFSPC command historian has been Mr. George W. Bradley, III since 199

A "Specialized Historical Document Collection" is in Peterson AFB Building 1470, and the

Peterson Air and Space Museum Peterson Air and Space Museum is an aviation museum located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado focused on the history the of Air Defense Command, Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command. History The museum ...

has a library with historical Aerospace Defense documents.

History

References

Further reading