Activated on March 31, 2006, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, supporting nuclear weapons acquisition and sustainment with the commander serving as the Air Force nuclear materiel manager. Kirtland AFB has a long history of involvement in weapons development and sustainment, and AFNWC draws its heritage from the Special Weapons Command, later redesignated the Air Force Special Weapons Center, assigned to Kirtland AFB.
In July 1945, the Manhattan Project team from Los Alamos, New Mexico, conducted the Trinity Test, detonating the world’s first atomic bomb in the desert south of Alamogordo. A little less than a month later, the United States became the first — and only — nation to use a nuclear weapon in wartime, releasing a bomb called Little Boy over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Just three days later, the United States dropped a second bomb called Fat Man over Nagasaki, Japan, changing the course of war forever.
The United States continued to conduct research and design on nuclear weapons after World War II ended, and the testing and production of nuclear warheads accelerated. The Department of Defense quickly recognized the need for a dedicated organization to support and manage the testing of those weapons and the Special Weapons Command, later redesignated the Air Force Special Weapons Center, was established Dec. 1, 1949, at Kirtland AFB. AFSWC directed specialized organizations dealing with atomic and other unconventional weapons, focusing on the technologies supporting nuclear weapons development, testing, aircraft technologies, associated munitions and compatibility among them. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s and into the 1970s, AFSWC personnel and assigned aircraft participated in more than 300 atmospheric nuclear tests in Nevada and the far Pacific, and provided support for underground testing, until its inactivation in 1976.
In 1992, Strategic Air Command, responsible for all nuclear strike forces, inactivated and the assigned nuclear forces were dispersed between Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command, while the acquisition and sustainment of Air Force nuclear weapons was spread among several organizations. In March 2006, the Air Force established the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center under Air Force Materiel Command to bridge a gap that had formed between nuclear acquisitions and nuclear sustainment. When Air Force Global Strike Command activated in August 2009, the two Air Force legs of the nuclear triad were reunited under a centralized command, and AFNWC became the only center under AFMC authorized a direct support relationship with AFGSC to ensure rapid and accurate communications in support of nuclear materiel management.