Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center ( NWC ) is a USAF Named Unit , assigned to the Air Force Materiel Command at Kirtland AFB , New Mexico . The NWC operates at the Air Division level of the AMC . It is currently under the command of veteran B - 2 commander Major General Garrett Harencak . Mission . The center ' s mission is to ensure safe , secure , and reliable nuclear weapon systems to support the National Command Structure and the United States Air Force warfighter . The NWC ’ s vision is to be the Air Force ’ s Center of Excellence for all nuclear weapon systems activities . The responsibilities of the NWC include acquisition , modernization and sustainment of nuclear system programs for both the Departments of Defense and Energy . Overview . Established on March 31 , 2006 , the Nuclear Weapons Center ( NWC ) is Air Force Materiel Command ’ s ( AFMC ) center of expertise for nuclear weapon systems . The NWC is the single AFMC voice for integrating nuclear weapon systems requirements and nuclear weapon system resource management . The center is the primary unit servicing Kirtland AFB and its over 100 tenant units . History . The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center was initially formed as a post World War II outgrowth of the Manhattan Project , which was designed by the Army from the outset to be a temporary organization to produce an atomic bomb . With the end of the war , the establishment of the " Z Division " at Sandia Base and later the Sandia National Laboratory led to the establishment of an Air Force organization to coordinate military activities with the civilian research organization in 1946 . Initially part of Continental Air Command and Air Material Command , the center was established as the Air Force Special Weapons Command as a Major Command of the United States Air Force on 1 December 1949 . It was equal to the Air Defense Command , Strategic Air Command , and Tactical Air Command . It assumed all functions of the World War II Atomic Tactical and Technical Liaison Committees , its mission was to provide an organization for the development and testing of atomic weapon s . The nucleus of this organization was composed of the pioneering Air Force agencies which had located there to determine future employment of nuclear weapons . It was redesignated Air Force Special Weapons Center ( AFSWC ) and assigned to Air Research and Development Command on 1 April 1952 , losing major command status and became a subordinate unit of the Air Research and Development Command . As the AFSWC , it became one of the distinct research and development centers within the command . Its mission was to ensure the atomic capability of aircraft and missiles . During the 1950s , assigned personnel and aircraft participated in atmospheric nuclear tests in Nevada and the Pacific Proving Grounds . The first Air Force scientific capabilities at the base were created during the mid - 1950s . Biophysicists deliberately flew aircraft through nuclear clouds to determine radiation hazards . Engineers also launched sounding rockets so physicists could study the effects of high - altitude nuclear explosions and the nature of the recently discovered Van Allen radiation belt s around the Earth . From the early years of Cold War , the need to test and evaluate supersonic aircraft technologies , associated munitions , and eventually space systems , required the Air Force to build specialized ground test facilities . As nuclear weapons and electronics became more a part of air power , two new locations for Test and Evaluation ( T & E ) were created . The Special Weapons Center ( SWC ) at Kirtland AFB , New Mexico concentrated on the technologies supporting nuclear weapons development . Hanscom AFB , Massachusetts concentrated on new levels of sophistication in electronics and avionics development . However , both locations were closed for testing in the late 1970s because the Air Force felt that limited Research and Development funds were better spent on technology than on infrastructure . One aspect of the testing environment involves the features a particular location might offer that could help ( or hinder ) testing of weapons such as supersonic aircraft technologies , associated munitions , and space systems . For example , the Special Weapons Center was established at Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico because of the concentration of technologies and industries supporting nuclear weapons development in the region . In 1958 Special Weapons Center scientists began to simulate the effects of nuclear explosions in order to strengthen our missiles , missile sites and aircraft against possible enemy attack . It was in 1958 that a nuclear effects simulator was first constructed in an abandoned dining hall at Kirtland . In the wake of the signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 , the Air Force Weapons Laboratory ( AFWL ) was created from the Research Directorate elements of the Special Weapons Center . The Special Weapons Center gave up much of its research and development work to the newly created Air Force Weapons Laboratory . The Center continued with its test and evaluation mission and as Kirtland ' s host organization . The Weapons Laboratory built facilities during the 1960s to simulate nuclear effects such as transient radiation , X - rays , and electromagnetic pulse ( EMP ) . The Special Weapons Center took over management of Air Force Systems Command ' s test and evaluation facilities at Holloman AFB near Alamogordo , New Mexico , during the summer of 1970 . And , just one year later on 1 July 1971 , Kirtland merged with Manzano and Sandia Base , its neighbors to the east , creating the sprawling military complex known as Kirtland AFB . The center then began providing base support services and continued to do so for the next five years , while Field Command , Defense Nuclear Agency , became a major base tenant rather than the base host organization . Because of budget restrictions and the need to save money , the Air Force Special Weapons Center was disestablished on 1 April 1976 . In 1976 AFSWC was closed and OPR functions came to the AFWL . Special Weapons Center ' s responsibilities as Kirtland ' s " landlord " were also transferred to the Air Force Contract Management Division on the same day . On March 31 , 2006 , the Air Force reactivated the unit as the Nuclear Weapons Center .