Human Effectiveness Director sheds light on plan for new human performance wing

  • Published
  • By Hendrick W. Ruck, Ph.D., SES
  • Director, Human Effectiveness Directoratre
The rumor mill is working overtime to grind out base realignment and closure and Air
Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness directorate grist. Such speculation can be quelled only by facts; unfortunately, a lengthy and complex planning process has prevented many facts from coming forth to date on BRAC activity or HE's
future structure. I hope to fix that situation with this column. 

First, BRAC Commission 2005 decisions and the merger of HE with other groups to form a new wing-level entity at Wright-Patterson AFB are separate actions. That said, the two are related because the new wing will implement BRAC law by creating a
center of excellence for aerospace medicine at Wright-Patterson AFB and the surrounding region. Second, we have a formal plan to implement BRAC
and HE restructuring; briefly, here's how that plan looks today. 

The U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, the Air Force Institute for Operational Health, the Performance Enhancement Directorate -- 311th HSW/PE -- and AFRL/HE will merge to form the 711th Human Performance Wing, which will exist under the AFRL commander at Wright-Patterson. They will share combined finance, planning, operations and contracting staffs. 

In collaboration with surrounding academia and medical institutions, the 711th
HPW will function as a center of excellence for aerospace medicine. 

The university research model will be the organization's framework-- combining education and training, research and development and clinical evaluation
and consultation in one place. 

Maj. Gen. Bowlds, the AFRL commander, has approved this plan and it is now at Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command for approval. If approved, it goes to Headquarters U.S. Air Force for final approval, which we hope to have by Oct. 1. 

At this point, nothing is set in stone, but the plan is real, steps are being taken to implement it. If all goes well, the 711th HPW will stand up later this year, establishing a new world-class leader in aerospace medicine and human performance research, initially with missions still existing at Wright-Patterson, Brooks City-Base and Mesa, but by 2011 all here in Ohio. 

To house the HPW, about $250 million in new construction will create more than
700,000 square feet of facilities for about 570 civilians and 700 military employees.
The HPW complex also will house the centrifuge training mission from Holloman and the Navy Aerospace Medical Research Lab from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. It all must be complete by September 2011 to comply with BRAC law. I look forward to working with you on this fantastic project that involves the relocation of people and activities from Brooks, Mesa and NAMRL to Wright-Patterson AFB. In the future, when researchers anywhere in the world ask a human-centered question, they should find the answer at the 711th HPW.