Air Force Systems Command Functional antecedents of Air Force Systems Command date at least to the establishment of the Airplane Engineering Department by the Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Army, on October 13, 1917. The department was located in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, where its successor, the Engineering Division, became part of the Materiel Division on October 15, 1926. Subsequently, the engineering function resided in the Materiel Command, the AAF Technical Service Command, the Air Technical Service Command, and the Air Materiel Command until the creation of a separate research and development command in 1950. In the reorganization and redesignation actions of 1961, Air Force Systems Command acquired the materiel procurement function from Air Force Logistics Command. Then with the 1992 reorganization of the Air Force, the functions of this command and the logistics command were once again merged in the Air Force Materiel Command. Lineage Established as Research and Development Command on January 23, 1950. Organized as a major command on February 1, 1950. Redesignated: Air Research and Development Command on September 16, 1950; Air Force Systems Command on April 1, 1961. Inactivated on July 1, 1992.