Located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center is a direct reporting unit of Headquarters, United States Air Force. It is the Air Force independent test agency responsible for testing, under operationally realistic conditions, new systems being developed for Air Force and multi-service use. AFOTEC employs more than 600 military and civilian personnel at its headquarters and four detachments located at Kirtland AFB (NM), Eglin AFB, (FL), Hill AFB (UT), Edwards AFB (CA), and Nellis AFB (NV) respectfully, as well as multiple operating locations around the country. In 2021, the former detachment at Peterson AFB (CO) was transferred to the United States Space Force. Test teams conduct tests at selected sites; collect, analyze and evaluate the data; and prepare formal reports. The teams are managed by AFOTEC and include personnel from the operating and supporting commands who will eventually employ these systems. AFOTEC's independent and objective evaluations of how well systems will meet operational requirements provide a vital link between the developer and user. They are key elements of the system acquisition approval process. Operational tests are designed to address critical issues regarding a system's performance in combat-like environments when operated by field personnel. They seek to answer questions about how safe, effective, reliable, maintainable, compatible, and logistically supportable new Air Force systems will be. The results of AFOTEC's tests, normally conducted on prototype and pre-production models, play an important role in Air Force and DOD acquisition decisions. Test results also identify deficiencies requiring corrective action. History In addition to the study of fielded weapons used in Vietnam, a new Department of Defense leadership team began major reforms when the new Richard M. Nixon administration began in 1969. Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard, the esteemed entrepreneur who favored the "fly-before-buy" approach, and Undersecretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas, who dealt with operational problems with the F-111 and C-5 transport, took the lead in defining a new emphasis on OT&E. Several government committees, commissions, and agencies studied how to implement acquisition reform, including the benefits of independent operational test and evaluation. Participants in all of these studies, along with an increasing number of Senators and Congressmen, concluded that the developing and using commands had become less impartial about the capabilities of, and need for, their major acquisition programs. In July 1970, a Presidential Blue Ribbon Defense Panel recommended the creation