U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group conduct landing procedures on an MH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, during exercise Tropical Dagger at Kingston, Jamaica, Feb. 22, 2024.

The Agency's Strategy

Our Mission

The Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) preserves Department of the Air Force (DAF) history and provides information and analyses to support official customers and the general public in a variety of venues and formats. The AFHRA administers the lineage, heritage, and emblems of DAF organizations; advises manpower and organization offices at Headquarters, United States Air Force ( HQ USAF), HQ, United States Space Force (USSF), Major Commands, Field Commands, Direct Reporting Units, and Field Operating Agencies on the selection of units and establishments to be activated and other organizational matters; supports contingency operations; prepares reference works; conducts an oral history program; operates an information system to index and retrieve historical data; and provides field support to Air Force History and Museums Program personnel. The AFHRA will provide the same level of support to both the USAF and the USSF.

Our Vision

To establish the AFHRA as a valued world-class Air Force and Space Force historical archive, leveraging the past to inform the present and future. 

Our Values

Collection stewardship is central to the AFHRA mission and use of its collection is guided by federal preservation and security standards that ensure its health for generations to come. The AFHRA proudly cultivates a culture of collaboration, transparency, diversity, and accessibility. The AFHRA staff is dedicated to balancing long-term preservation with user access by encouraging all segments of our community to engage with the collections available to them and operationalize the Department of the Air Force corporate memory preserved by this organization.

Current Lines of Effort for the AFHRA:

  1. Increase Access Through Modernization 
  2. Develop an Agile Workforce
  3. Operationalize the AFHRA to the Benefit of DAF Leaders
  4. Shape the US Space Force Archives Program