Air Force Technical Applications Center

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AFTAC emblem

Rocket garden in front of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick AFB, Florida, circa 1960's

The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) of the United States Air Force located in Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. AFTAC's mission is primarily Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection, accomplished using seismic, hydroacoustic, and satellite detection systems.

AFTAC's motto is: "In God We Trust, All Others We Monitor."

This global network is the U. S. Atomic Energy Detection System (USAEDS). Once the USAEDS senses a disturbance underground, underwater, in space or in the atmosphere, AFTAC's laboratories analyze the event for nuclear identification and report the findings to national command authorities through Headquarters, Air Force.

AFTAC's nuclear event detection mission is directly linked to its nuclear treaty monitoring mission. AFTAC monitors signatory countries' compliance with the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty; the treaty prohibits nuclear testing anywhere but underground and prohibits the venting of nuclear debris or radiation from those tests into the atmosphere outside the country's national border.

Based on the unit's extensive nuclear monitoring experience, AFTAC is the U.S. lead in developing the international cooperative system to monitor the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This treaty bans all nuclear testing by signatory nations. AFTAC is also the designated U.S. laboratory system responsible for supporting U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.

Two other treaties AFTAC monitors are the Threshold Test Ban Treaty of 1974 and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty of 1976. The 1974 treaty limits the size of underground nuclear tests to 150 kilotons, while the 1976 treaty monitors the testing of nuclear devices outside agreed-upon treaty sites.

The nation depends on AFTAC for the technological research and evaluation of verification technology for current and future treaties involving nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs that threaten national security.