Hanscom Air Force Base Hanscom Air Force Base ( AFB ) is a United States Air Force base located approximately south - southwest of Bedford , Massachusetts . The facility is a joint use civil airport / military base with Hanscom Field which provides general aviation and charter service . Hanscom AFB is the home of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center . It is one of five centers under Air Force Materiel Command ( AFMC ) , the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center is the single center responsible for total life cycle management of Air Force weapon systems . The host unit at Hanscom is the 66th Air Base Group ( 66 ABG ) assigned to AFMC . Overview . A non - flying base , Hanscom Air Force Base is named after Laurence G . Hanscom ( 1906 – 1941 ) in honor of the pilot , aviation enthusiast , and State House reporter who was killed in a plane crash at Saugus , Massachusetts when he had been lobbying for the establishment of an airfield in Bedford . Laurence G . Hanscom was a reporter for the Worcester Telegram - Gazett e . Hanscom was active in early aviation , founding the Massachusetts Civil Air Reserve . The base was named in his honor on 26 June 1941 . The AFLCMC mission is to deliver affordable and sustainable war - winning capabilities to U . S . and international partners — on time , on cost , anywhere , any time from cradle to grave . Hanscom Field , a civilian general - aviation airport adjacent to the Air Force Base , and MASSPORT , are the primary operators of the air field and runways . Less than one percent of the aircraft that land at Hanscom Field are military aircraft . Hanscom also supports the Massachusetts National Guard Joint Force Headquarters , MIT Lincoln Laboratory and MITRE Federally Funded Research and Development Centers , and various other companies and groups related to the Department of Defense . History . World War II . Hanscom Air Force Base began its existence while the United States was considering its entry into World War II . In May 1941 , the Massachusetts Legislature authorized the purchase of a large tract of farmland bordering the towns of Bedford , Lincoln , Concord and Lexington for a Boston Auxiliary Airport . Funds to build the new airport were contributed by the federal government , which had appropriated $ 40 million to build 250 new civil airports across the United States that could serve for future national defense . In mid - 1942 , the Commonwealth of Massachusetts leased the Bedford airport to the War Department for use by the Army Air Forces . Fighter squadrons trained there in 1942 through 1943 . The 85th Fighter Squadron and the 318th Fighter Squadron , who trained at Bedford on the Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk , went on to combat in North Africa and Europe . In February 1943 , the airport was renamed Laurence G . Hanscom Field in honor of a Massachusetts - born pilot and aviation enthusiast who had been a reporter for the Worcester Telegram - Gazette . Hanscom had died in February 1941 , in an aircraft accident in Saugus , Massachusetts , while he was lobbying vigorously at the State House for the establishment of the airport at Bedford . Later in the war , the Bedford Army Air Field served as a site for testing new radar sets developed by MIT ' s Radiation Laboratory . It was this secondary wartime activity at Hanscom that gave rise to the base ' s postwar role . Cold War . Since 1945 Hanscom has emerged as the Air Force ' s center for the development and acquisition of electronic systems . The base has also played a significant role in the creation of a national high - technology area around Route 128 . World War II established the key military importance of radar . In 1945 , when the MIT and Harvard wartime laboratories were dissolved , the Army Air Forces aimed to continue some of their programs in radar , radio and electronic research . It recruited scientists and engineers from the laboratories , and its new Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories ( AFCRL ) took over MIT ' s test site at Hanscom Field . By 1950 , the Air Force was working closely with MIT to develop a new air defense system for the continental United States . Expanding its facilities at Hanscom Field was a step to accomplishing this massive project . After some negotiation , the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed in May 1952 to cede land on one side of the airport to the federal government and to give a 25 - year renewable lease on the airfield itself . The first buildings for the new MIT Lincoln Laboratory at Hanscom were completed in 1952 , and the Air Force ' s electronic and geophysics laboratories in Cambridge started to migrate out to its own new facilities in Bedford in 1954 . The airfield ' s runways were reconfigured and expanded in 1953 , and new hangars , headquarters and facilities were built . To provide test and evaluation for Lincoln Lab ' s new " Cape Cod " experimental air defense system , Hanscom ' s 6520th Test Support Wing logged thousands of hours of flying time . The Semi - Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) air defense computer system , completed in the early 1960s , revolutionized air defense and also contributed significantly to advances in air traffic control systems . As the SAGE system matured , the Air Force pursued the development of a number of advanced command , control and communications systems . In 1961 the Electronic Systems Division ( ESD ) was established at Hanscom Field in order to consolidate the management of the Air Force ' s electronic systems under one agency . Since that time , the Electronics Systems Division ( re - designated the Electronic Systems Center in 1992 ) was the host organization on the base . While Hanscom ' s role in system acquisition flourished after the 1950s , its operational mission gradually diminished . As of September 1973 , all regular military flying operations at Hanscom ceased . The following year the Air Force terminated its lease of the airfield portion of Hanscom Field , which reverted to state control , but retained the right to use the field . The Air Force re - designated its own acreage surrounding the field as the Laurence G . Hanscom Air Force Base . In 1977 the name was shortened to the present Hanscom Air Force Base . The base saw a second wave of construction during the 1980s . The Electronic Systems Division put up four new systems management engineering facilities ( the O ' Neill , Brown , Shiely and Bond buildings ) . For base personnel , there were new service facilities — medical , youth and family support centers — as well as additional housing and a temporary lodging facility . Since July 1992 , Hanscom and the Electronic Systems Center ( ESC ) have been part of the Air Force Materiel Command . In 1994 the Air Force designated ESC as the Air Force Center of Excellence for Command , Control , Communications , Computers and Intelligence ( C4I ) . The Standard Systems Group at Gunter Annex , Maxwell AFB , Ala . ; the 38th Engineering Installation Wing at Tinker AFB , Okla . ; the Materiel Systems Group at Wright - Patterson AFB , Ohio ; and lastly the Cryptologic Systems Group at Kelly AFB , Texas ; were all attached to ESC between 1993 and 1996 in order to consolidate related functions in AFMC under the Center , and to support its expanded mission . Subsequent reorganizations changed the groupings , but all the above organizations ( though renamed ) except the 38th EIW remained under Hanscom ' s reporting chain . In 2004 , ESC was reorganized into a named wing , group and squadron unit , to better reflect the organization of the Air Force as a whole . In 2006 , the wings , groups and squadrons were given numbered designations . In 2010 , ESC reverted to an organization of program offices and the 38th Engineering Installation Wing ( by then a group ) was re - assigned . New Air Force standards caused the 66th Air Base Wing , because of its size , to be redesignated the 66th Air Base Group . In June 2011 , the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate moved move from Hanscom to Wright - Patterson AFB , Ohio , the and Space Vehicles Directorate moved to Kirtland Air Force Base , N . M . , closing more than 60 years of laboratory presence on Hanscom . The Electronic Systems Center as an organization was realigned in July 2012 , and became a part of the newly created Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright - Patterson AFB , Ohio . Note : Station placed on standby status : 1 Jan - to Apr 1944 ; discontinued , 12 Aug 1945 ; disposed , 8 Mar 1946 ; transferred to Commonwealth of Massachusetts , 21 Aug 1946 ; leased from Commonwealth of Massachusetts to US Government , 1 Jul 1947 , flying facilities are property of Commonwealth of Massachusetts with USAF not having exclusive use . . * * Note : Air Force Reserve units . Active flying at Hanscom ended on 30 September 1973 .