Military dedicates new headquarters for nuclear control unit

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. — The new, $1.3 billion headquarters for the command unit that controls the nation’s nuclear-armed forces has been dedicated at an Air Force Base south of Omaha.

Officers and enlisted men joined civilian dignitaries for ceremonies Monday at Offutt Air Force Base.

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The facility is named the Gen. Curtis E. LeMay Building. LeMay headed what was then known as the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command until 1957 when he left to take a Pentagon post. Strategic Air Command eventually became a multiservice unit under a new name: the U.S. Strategic Command, or StratCom.

A statue of a B-52 bomber stands in front of C2F, US Strategic Command's new command and control facility at Offutt AFB in Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Work on the 916,000-square-foot (85,000-square-meter) command and control center began in October 2012. Contractors worked through several setbacks, including floods and persistent mold.

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Around 2,000 of StratCom’s 3,200 employees have moved in.