AFRL officials say new reorganization will help lab work more closely with acquisition leads

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has reorganized its work into four domains that feed an overarching Technology Transition Office, the lab commander said Wednesday. AFRL has described the reorganization, first announced in April, as its “most significant organizational change” in nearly 30 years. Brig. Gen. Douglas Wickert, the lab’s commander and the technology executive officer for the Air and Space Forces, told reporters yesterday at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference here that the reorganization “was completed this summer.” “We’re now organized into four mission domains. We have an air domain, a space domain, an information and spectrum domain and then a human domain,” Wickert said. Underneath these domains is “a foundational science and technology domain,” which includes the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, he said, because science “cuts across all.” On top of the four subject areas is the Transition Technology Office, Wickert said. “That’s also where AFWERX and SpaceWERX live.” “All the major muscle movements are complete,” he added, and “we’re already seeing benefits” for communication between AFRL and portfolio acquisition executives, also known as PAEs. Michael Gregg, director of AFRL’s Air Warfare Directorate, said that historically the lab “would think along the lines of individual technologies,” but is now “thinking mission first.” “What that enables us to do is have better relations with the PAEs,” Gregg said, “because we can now deliver something that’s more meaningful from a subsystem or system level that’s more applicable to where they’re at” both today and long-term. Anthony Thomas, director of the Technology Transition Office, said closer engagement with PAEs will better position AFRL to address potential challenges in large-scale production, fielding and sustainment of new technologies. “The redesign is so new,” he added. “We need a little bit of time to get that traction, but I’m optimistic [that] by the end of the year you’ll see some great traction.”