Air Armament Center leaves historic legacy

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  As the guidon was slowly rolled up on the 14-year-old Air Armament Center, the final page of its epic history here was written.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Merchant, the center's last commander, stood by to bear witness as the flag was sealed up.

When Merchant spoke during the Eglin's transition ceremony he praised the accomplishments and past leaders who'd guided the center and base to greatness.

"This team has distinguished itself under the leadership of Mike Kostelnik, Rob Chedister, Jeff Reimer, David Eidsaune, CR Davis, Judy Stokely and Bruce Simpson," said the general. "I'm proud to have been a member of this esteemed group."

During its operation, AAC earned a reputation as a high-performing organization capable of quickly pulling technological advances in warheads energetics, fuzing, guidance and propulsion.

From creation came the demonstration, development, testing and fielding of those weapons and technologies by units belonging to AAC.

The Air Armament Center's history and Merchant's career crossed twice before he ended up at the helm.

His connection with the center began in 1984 when it was called the Armament Division.

"Things were just beginning to take off," said Merchant.

"The early days" of what would become the center saw innovations in bombs like the GBU-15, BLU-109, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles and range systems.

Dating back to 1942, AAC has had 13 name changes. In 1998, it was officially deemed the Air Armament Center. Two years later, Merchant returned to the center to find his teams engaged in the development of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile, the wind-corrected munitions dispenser, a sensor-fuzed weapon, the Joint Standoff Weapon and the small diameter bomb.

"When the nation went to war following 9/11, many of these systems got their first tests in combat," said Merchant. "We've since expended more than 33,000 JDAMs."

The weapons kept improving in accuracy, speed and power as the wars increased thanks to the center.

On June 7, 2006, those upgraded weapons were used to significant effect in Baghdad, Iraq. An F-16 airstrike using a JDAM and a laser-guided GBU-12 hit a safehouse killing Musab Al Zarqawi, the leader of al Quida in Iraq. Both bombs were developed, acquired, tested and sustained by AAC.

When Merchant returned to command AAC in 2011, DoD's newest weapon, the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter had just arrived to his base only three weeks prior at the 33rd Fighter Wing.

As the center entered its final days, the missions remained on-going with specific improvements to the weapons Merchant had seen developed in 2000. JDAM, JASSM, AMRAAM and the SDB have all undergone significant upgrades based on wartime feedback and warfighter need.

"Today, we close the book on the Air Armament Center, but our mission to develop, test and produce war-winning weapons remains vital to our nation's security objectives," he said in his closing remarks to his two wings. "It must continue under the new organizational construct and as an Air Force we cannot affort to shift our focus away from the weapons enterprise."