AFRL has its
headquarters at
Wright-Patterson AFB near
Dayton,
Ohio. They are in the
Air Force chain of command under their
MAJCOM,
Air Force Materiel Command. The labs are where the
USAF does its pure
science that it doesn't farm out to
universities or
contractors. The major directorates of AFRL are air vehicles,
directed energy, human effectiveness,
information, materials and
manufacturing,
munitions,
propulsion,
sensors, and
space vehicles. Because AFRL can develop
technology independently from the rest of the world, there are
conspiracy theories about what they've come up with. Some say that their research is based on the technology we acquired at
Roswell.
The sensors directorate is visible from the Beavercreek, Ohio location of
Waffle House if you sit near the windows.