New leader to take over Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB

[Boats]

New leader to take over Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB
By: Max Filby - Dayton Daily News & Stars & Stripes - 5-29-19
RE: https://www.stripes.com/news/air-for...n-afb-1.583564

Photo link: https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/..._900/image.jpg
Air Force Lt. Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. testifies for the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2019. Bunch will be promoted to four-star rank and will assume command of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson.
EJ HERSOM/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

(Tribune News Service) — The Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will get a new leader Friday.

Lt. Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. will be promoted to four-star rank and will assume command of the Air Force Materiel Command during a ceremony at the National Museum of the Air Force. The ceremony will be presided over by Gen. David Goldfein, chief of staff of the Air Force, according to a release from Wright-Patt.

In his new role, Bunch will lead a command with 80,000 uniformed Airmen and civilian employees that manages nearly $60 billion annually. The Air Force Materiel Command is tasked with with developing, acquiring, modernizing and sustaining weapon systems across their life cycle.

Bunch, a Tennessee native, is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a 1991 grad of the Air Force Test Pilot School, according to Wright-Patt.

He’s served in a number of leadership roles for weapons development, acquisition, and testing. Most recently he was assigned to the Pentagon as Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, according to Wright-Patt.

The AFMC’s focus ranges from basic and applied scientific research, to Air Force uniforms, information systems and software, to manned and unmanned aircraft, to directed energy and hypersonic weapons.

The command includes the acquisition product centers, depot maintenance facilities, global logistics and supply chain wings, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and the Air Force Museum. The AFMC’s Installation and Mission Support Center provides combat support such as security forces, civil engineering, expeditionary readiness, financial management and services supporting installation operations and Airmen across the entire Air Force, according to Wright-Patt.