Newark Air Force Base

AFMETCAL (Air Force METrology and CALibration Program Office), located in Heath, Ohio is the primary manager of metrology services for the U.S. Air Force. It retains engineering authority for all calibrations performed in the PMEL labs throughout the Air Force, and oversees the contractor managed and operated Air Force Primary Standards Lab (AFPSL). It currently operates as a direct reporting unit of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center for Wright-Patterson AFB, Wright-Patterson, OH.

To develop and sustain precision measurement capabilities ensuring accurate, reliable, and safe air and space systems performance through effective management of the Air Force Metrology Program.

The United States Air Force calibration program was initiated in January 1952 to comply with AF Regulation 74-2, which outlined policies and assigned responsibilities for managing the Air Force Metrology and Calibration (AFMETCAL) Program. The Dayton Air Force Depot, located at Gentile Air Force Station, Dayton, Ohio, developed and implemented a plan to ensure traceability to national standards that would apply to all measurements made on any weapon system in the Air Force.

The Dayton Air Force Depot was given the authority to establish a centralized calibration program. Under their plan, the Air Materiel Area Depots were given a set of measurement standards, which were periodically calibrated by the Dayton Air Force Depot using standards traceable to the National Bureau of Standards.

The operational success of a "Test Shop" program set up at March AFB, California, on 15 September 1957, led to the establishment of the base-level Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratories providing the Air Force with a complete calibration system that could handle the increasingly stringent measurement needs of the new missile and aircraft systems. The Dayton Air Force Depot facilities were becoming inadequate to support the increasing accuracy requirements of the Air Force so the search for a suitable replacement facility was begun in 1958. Air Force Industrial Plant No. 48 at Heath, Ohio, contained most of the features desired, such as the underground facilities and a stable seismic environment. On 1 February 1959, it was redesignated the Heath Maintenance Annex of the Dayton Air Force Depot. Authorization to begin construction was given by public law on 9 June 1960.

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