R&D, Testing & Evaluation, and Logistics (except Vandenberg)

A myriad of different types of organizations support the nuclear enterprise that ensures the mission of missiles is accomplished. Today, the changed nature of the threat (ICBMs rather than bombers) and advances in technology (primarily precision-guided munitions) have left only ALCMs and ICBMs in the USAF’s arsenal of nuclear missiles, but in the past, the missiles were of all types: air-to-air (e.g., Genie), air-to-ground (e.g., Hound Dog), ground-to-air (e.g., BOMARC), and ground-to-ground (i.e., Snark, IRBMs and ICBMs). The albums in this section of the gallery include patches from organizations that helped create and support all of these--from research and development (R&D) to testing and evaluation (T&E); from the highest echelons like the Department of Energy to squadron-level units like the 1st Geodetic Survey Squadron; from units disbanded long ago that were key to getting us where we are today, to those still active in every sense of the word. As can be seen below, these organizations have been placed in one of nine categories. Some viewers may wonder what role organizations such as the USAF Environmental Health Laboratory had in the missile arena. Hopefully, the narrative accompanying patches such as these will provide a better understanding of the importance such organizations have had in the successful fielding of the many different types of missiles that have been in the Air Force inventory over the years. Note that patches from Vandenberg are not included here because that base has its own album.