HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Hanscom officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony June 6 to recognize the opening of a facility supporting the installation’s nuclear communications mission.
Building 1102 provides space for approximately 240 Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center personnel, which includes about 90 unit personnel moving over from the MITRE Corp.’s campus in Bedford. The renovation project began in 2016.
“Nuclear command, control and communications is vital to our national security strategy,” said Scott Hardiman, AFNWC director for Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) Integration and Air Force program executive officer for NC3. “The Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Base Group recognize that and have put a priority on our mission here, which is symbolized by this building.”
The remodeled building is a 56,000-square-foot facility with 44 offices, 204 cubicles, nine conference and collaboration rooms, and hot desk functionality. The facility provides network and teleconferencing capabilities with multiple Department of Defense network systems.
“It [this building] is an appropriate permanent home for our workforce, who perform this NC3 mission every day,” Hardiman said. “On behalf of the directorate, I want to thank all of those who worked so hard to take this building from plans to reality, in about a six-year period. Thanks to everyone for sticking with it and making this day possible.”
Col. Katrina Stephens, installation and 66th Air Base Group commander, said that despite distribution challenges and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teamwork and communication contributed to the successful completion of the project.
“What the partnership between the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, AFNWC, and the 66 ABG has done here is to enhance the Air Force’s warfighting capabilities,” she said. “The work that went into this facility is a testament to what right looks like.”
The NC3 Integration Directorate is a component of AFNWC, which is headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.