Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
12/12/2014
Less than a month after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Nov. 14 announced oversight and organizational changes within the troubled nuclear enterprise, the Air Force yesterday announced it will combine acquisition and product support management functions into a single two-star command based at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced the merger of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) and the Air Force Program Executive Office for Strategic Systems during a keynote address on Dec. 9, at the Winter Conference of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Project on Nuclear Issues.
Currently, responsibility for intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrations, validation, modernization and life extension programs resides under the one-star Strategic Systems (SS) billet, led by Brig. Gen. Daryl Hauck. Two-star Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan oversees AFNWC, including its main launch system operations and equipment support efforts. Scheduled for completion in fall 2015, the merger aims to establish a more senior-level, singular accountability to address missiles, launch systems and equipment support, James said. SS is based at Kirtland AFB, but currently reports to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Air Force Material Command (AFMC) oversees AFLCMC and AFNWC.
The merger will co-locate the functions of SS with AFNWC, which is also based at Kirtland. “The idea here is to enhance support to the nuclear mission,” James said. “So, put another way, whereas now, you have two separate belly buttons for cheap parts of the nuclear sustainment and modernization missions, in the future we will have one. We will have one senior leader accountable for the entirety of the weapons systems.” The move attempts to streamline missiles, launch systems and equipment activities into a single-pointed approach, and is geared toward synergizing the two offices that share similar missions but operate under separate budgets and procedures, James said.
AFNWC to Be Divided into Three Directorates
The SS/AFNWC merger will initiate a subsequent reorganization of the AFNWC into three directorates—with one dedicated for each of the the bomber and ICBM legs of the triad and one focusing on “unique nuclear requirements” and interagency engagement, according to a Dec. 10 service press release. “The Air Force is always seeking to improve the ways we do business through the innovation of our Airmen and the Nuclear Enterprise is no different,” the release quotes Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh as saying. “We have identified and are in the process of improving critical mission shortfalls to ensure we remain the most credible, capable and reliable Air Force on the planet.”
Kirtland’s 377th ABW to Realign from AFMC to AFGSC
In addition to merging AFNWC and SS, the Air Force is also moving the organizational lines of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland AFB, N.M., from its current parent command, the Wright-Patterson-based AFMC, to Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). This will allow the wing to focus on installation support at Kirtland, James said. “We’re going to have Global Strike oversee that, because their role is support of the airmen and the operations,” she said. The move attempts, in part, to streamline a “laser focus,” and to free up AFMC to lend product and modernization support the new SS/AFNWC unit, James added.
Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, who serves in the Pentagon as Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, predicted a seamless transition of 377th to AFGSC. “We expect the transfer to be imperceptible to the majority of Airmen at Kirtland AFB as they will continue to work for the same supervisors and units,” the release quotes him as saying. Harencak oversees the organizing, training and equipping of the Air Force’s nuclear mission.
Defections to Private Sector Trigger Pay Raises at Minot AFB
James also announced during the conference that the Office of Personnel Management recently approved salaries for seven non-appropriated “craft and trade positions” at Minot AFB, N.D., to be increased by 33 to 37 percent, as newfound natural resources have spawned new higher-paying private sector jobs, which attract Minot employees. “That whole community is in the midst of, I’ll say, an energy boom,” she said. “There is shale, oil. There’s all kinds of energy issues going on, and people now are flocking to that area near Minot, North Dakota, and … it has drawn away a lot of our employees from the nuclear mission.” James noted that tight budgets have squeezed the entire Air Force to its smallest overall manning level since the service’s creation in 1947, and said the salary bump is aimed at re-attracting positions like childcare workers and other similar positions “so important to the quality of life at Minot.” James added that the service is also negotiating pay raises for civil service employees at Minot.
