| National Air and Space Intelligence Center | |
|---|---|
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| Active | July 1961 – present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Part of | Air Staff A2/6 |
| Garrison/HQ | Wright-Patterson Air Force Base |
| Decorations | Air and Space Organizational Excellence Award |
| Website | Official website |
TheNational Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is theUnited States Air Force unit for analyzingmilitary intelligence on foreign air forces, weapons, and systems. NASIC assessments of aerospace performance characteristics, capabilities, and vulnerabilities are used to shape national security and defense policies and support weapons treaty negotiations and verification.[1] NASIC provides theDefense Intelligence Agency (DIA) with specialized intelligence regarding foreign air threats.
In 1917 theForeign Data Section of theArmy Signal Corps' Airplane Engineering Department was established atMcCook Field,[2] and a NASIC predecessor operated the Army Aeronautical Museum (now National Museum of the Air Force) initially at McCook and then on 22 August 1935 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio.[3][4] The Office of the Chief of Air Corps's Information Division had become the OCAC Intelligence Division by 1939, which transferred into theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as AC/AS, Intelligence and was known as A-2[5] (in April, 1942, theAir Intelligence School was at theHarrisburg Academy.)[6] TheUnited States Army Air Forces evaluated foreign aircraft duringWorld War II with the "T-2 Intelligence Department atWright Field andFreeman Field, Indiana".[4] In July 1944, Wright Field analysts fired aV-1 enginereconstructed from "Robot Blitz" wreckage[7] (an entire V-1 was reconstructed atRepublic Aviation by 8 September).[8][9] Post-war,Operation Lusty recruited German technology experts who were interrogated prior to working in the United States, e.g., Dr.Herbert Wagner at aPoint MuguUSMC detachment andWalter Dornberger atBell Aircraft. The "capability…anticipated forSoviet intercontinental jet bombers" (e.g., in NSC 20/4 in the fall of 1945) determined aRadar Fence was needed for sufficient U.S. warning and that the"1954 Interceptor" (F-106) was needed (specified in the 13 January 1949, Air Development Order): "the appearance of a Soviet jet bomber [was in the] 1954…May Day parade".[10]
"By 1944, it had become obvious that German aeronautical technology was superior in many ways, to that of this country, and we needed to obtain this technology and make use of it," saidP-47 andMesserschmitt Me 262 pilot USAAF Lieutenant Roy Brown during a speech at NASIC in 2014. To accomplish this task, then Colonel Harold E. Watson was sent from Wright Field to Europe in 1944, to locate German aircraft of advanced design. Watson would become an integral part of forming the intelligence unit that would eventually become NASIC.[11]
On 21 May 1951, theAir Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) was established as a USAF field activity of the AssistantChief of Staff for Intelligence.[4] ATIC analyzed engine parts and the tail section of aMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 and in July, the center received a complete MiG-15 that had crashed. ATIC also obtainedIL-10 andYak-9 aircraft in operational condition, and monitored a captured MiG-15's flight test program. ATIC awarded a contract toBattelle Memorial Institute for translation and analysis of materiel and documents gathered during theKorean War. Analysis allowed FEAF to develop fighter engagement tactics. In 1958 ATIC had aReadix Computer in Building 828, 1 of 6 WPAFB buildings used by the unit prior to the center built in 1976.[4]
Discoverer 29 (launched 30 April 1961) then photographed the "first SovietICBM offensive launch complex" atPlesetsk.[12] TheDefense Intelligence Agency was created on 1 October.
In 1961 ATIC became theForeign Technology Division (FTD) which was reassigned toAir Force Systems Command (AFSC). FTD intelligence estimates were subsequently provided to the National Security Council.[12]: 111 AtTonopah Test Range Airport, FTD conducted test and evaluation of captured Soviet fighter aircraft (AFSC[13] The pilots were recruited from theAir Force Test Center atEdwards AFB. The aircraft of the1966 Iraqi Air Force MiG-21 defection was loaned by Israel to the U.S. Air Force and transferred to Nevada for study.[13] In 1968, the US Air Force and NavyHAVE DOUGHNUT project flew the aircraft atArea 51 for simulated air combat training (renamedHAVE DRILL and transferred to the Tonopah TTRc. 1968). U.S. casualties flying foreign aircraft included those in the1979 Tonopah MiG-17 crash during training versus aNorthrop F-5 and the1984 Little Skull Mountain MiG-23 crash which killed a USAF general.[14]
FTD detachments were located inVirginia, California (Det 2), Germany (Det 3), Japan (Det 4), and Det 5—first in Massachusetts and later Colorado (Buckley ANGB).[15] By 1968 FTD had an "Aerial Phenomenon Office"[16] and in 1983, FTD/OLAI at theCheyenne Mountain Complex published theAnalysis ofCosmos 1220 and Cosmos 1306 Fragments.[17]
In 1971 the FTD obtained, translated, and published a copy of the paperMethod of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction, originally a Russian-language work byPyotr Ufimtsev of the Central Research Radio Engineering Institute [ЦНИРТИ] of the Defense Ministry of the Soviet Union, which became the basis forstealth aircraft technology.[18][19][20][21]
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In October 1993 at the end of theCold War, FTD became theNational Air Intelligence Center[22] as "a component of theAir Intelligence Agency",[23] and by 2005 had a Signals Exploitation DivisionSAM.gov | Home after being renamed theNational Air and Space Intelligence Center on 15 February 2003.[15]
NASIC's Defense Intelligence Space Threat Committee coordinates "a wide variety of complex space/counterspace analytical activities."[24] The Center includes a library with interlibrary loan toAir University, etc.[1]
NASIC is anoperation wing andField Operating Agency (FOA) of theUSAF; as an FOA, it reports to theAir Staff through theDeputy Chief of Staff for ISR and Cyber Effects Operations.[1] The Center is led by a Commander, currentlyCol. Ariel Batungbacal, and has an annual budget of over $507 million.[25]
NASIC's 4,100 civilian, military,Reserve,National Guard, and contract personnel are split between the Centers' fourintelligence analysis groups, four support directorates, and 18 squadrons.
The Air and Cyberspace Intelligence Group;Geospatial andSignatures Intelligence Group; Global Exploitation Intelligence Group; andSpace, Missiles and Forces Intelligence Group comprise the four intelligence groups; the Directorate of Communications and Information, Directorate of Personnel, Directorate of Facilities and Logistics, and Directorate of Plans and Operations comprise the four support directorates.[1]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
A Long Intelligence History inset, page 81
In December 1942 a contract was executed with Yale University whereby the university leased facilities for the training of the communications, engineering, armament and photography aviation cadets. These detachments were transferred from Scott, Chanute, and Lowry Field in January 1943.137 Harrisburg Academy at Harrisburg, Pa., was leased for the Air Intelligence School, which opened there in April 1942.138
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