The AIAA SETC was the brainchild of Bruce Pittman (AIAA Associate Fellow). Mr. Pittman convinced the Technical Activities Committee (TAC) that an AIAA Systems Engineering Task Force was needed to support the aerospace community and its future product developments. In 1991 Mr. Pittman with a group of AIAA members in the San Francisco Bay Area formed the task force. Our present chairman (C. Stephen Kuehl - Raytheon) was an active member of the SE task force. For two years the task force sponsored systems engineering workshops in conjunction with major AIAA conferences across the United States. TAC then approved the creation of a Systems Engineering Technical Committee in 1993.

The SETC meets three times a year, often in conjunction with an AIAA or other technical society conference event, and schedules its meetings at least six months in advance. Typically, the agenda addresses new systems engineering topics (status of systems engineering standards, practices, methods, tools, etc.), internal AIAA/TAC topics, a guest speaker addressing a timely SE topic, SE standards, SE Education, SETC focus areas, or SE process maturity.

Sharing of systems engineering 'Hot Topics' generally occurs during these meetings. The committee is working toward regional AIAA support for systems engineering adoption and practical usage of SETC products and services.