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Leaders pose at the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center's Mission Integration Facility groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 19, 2021, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Left to right: Derek Hoffine, Hensel Phelps Contracting district manager and vice president; Angela Michael, Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent Systems Directorate deputy director; Col. Jason Bartolomei, GBSD Systems Directorate director; Col. Jenise Carroll, 75th Air Base Wing commander; Lt. Col. Kristopher Nielsen, Air Force Global Strike Command branch chief; and Matthew Regan, GBSD military construction branch chief. (U.S. Air Force photo by Cynthia Griggs)

Center breaks ground for new nuclear missile facility

Published March 1, 2021
By Leah Bryant, AFNWC Public Affairs
Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center held a groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 19 to mark the construction here of a new facility for its Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program.

The Mission Integration Facility will include space for hardware and software weapons systems testing, as well as collaboration space, an auditorium and the first covered-parking structure at Hill AFB. It will host the center’s GBSD Systems Directorate and more than 700 personnel.

The ceremony attendees included Col. Jenise Carroll, 75th Air Base Wing commander; Col. Jason Bartolomei, GBSD Systems Directorate director; Lt. Col. Kristopher Nielsen, Air Force Global Strike Command branch chief; and Derek Hoffine, Hensel Phelps Contracting district manager and vice president. In addition, Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo, AFNWC commander, attended virtually.

“We’re at an inflection point of the history of this base, and maybe the most exciting time for Hill for the next 10 to 15 years. What we see here is something special, not only for GBSD but for all of the Air Force,” Bartolomei said.

Once built, the nearly 140,000-square-foot facility will consolidate both government and contractor personnel into one secure building.

“This facility will be a one-stop shop for GBSD testing and data management, making all of these activities more cost effective and efficient,” Genatempo said. “I’m excited about the synergy this brings to our interactions with the contractors working on our program—they will be working in some cases shoulder-to-shoulder with us, rather than from across the country.”

Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed by April 2023, with operations starting in April 2024.

The center is responsible for synchronizing all aspects of nuclear materiel management on behalf of Air Force Materiel Command in direct support of Air Force Global Strike Command. Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, the center has more than 1,800 personnel at 18 locations worldwide.

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GBSD Mission Integration Facility

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