An artist’s rendering of a DMSP-series military satellite. The University of Nebraska is joining with the University of North Dakota, Kansas State University and Purdue University to form a new space-oriented research partnership. The academic alliance is part of a pitch to lure the U.S. Space Command to Offutt Air Force Base, one of six sites under consideration.
University of Nebraska President Ted Carter has joined with the leaders of three other Midwestern universities to form a space-oriented academic and research alliance designed to help lure the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Offutt Air Force Base.
Carter said the partnership — with the University of North Dakota, Kansas State and Purdue — would develop new degree programs and research initiatives specifically designed for the Space Command.
Carter, a retired Navy vice admiral, said he came up with the idea after learning last month that Offutt was one of six finalists to become the headquarters for the new U.S. Space Command, which was reactivated as a separate combatant command in August 2019 after 17 years as part of the Offutt-based U.S. Strategic Command.
The other finalists are Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, Redstone Army Airfield in Alabama and the former Kelly Air Force Base in Texas. The Air Force is in charge of selecting the site.
“We created a Midwestern alliance in order to make sure the U.S. Air Force knows we’re ready to support them in whatever they need to do,” Carter said.
He said he contacted KSU President Richard Myers, North Dakota Chancellor Mark Hagerott and Purdue President Mitch Daniels and found that they were highly interested in forming the partnership.
The four leaders announced their initiative in an op-ed published Sunday in the Annapolis (Maryland) Capital-Gazette.
“Our universities have numerous existing strengths on which to build this alliance,” they wrote. “In our view, the Heartland is the right home for U.S. Space Command.”
Carter served as the superintendent of his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy, before joining NU in January.
Daniels is a former governor of Indiana and also served as director of the federal Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. Hagerott, a retired Navy captain and Rhodes scholar, leads an 11-campus system in a state with two Air Force bases. Myers is a retired Air Force general who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001 to 2005.
Their universities collectively enroll 163,000 students and already offer programs in engineering, space law, cybersecurity and information technology that Carter said could serve the needs of the Space Command.
He noted that Nebraska already leads a similar coalition called the National Strategic Research Institute, which serves a similar role for StratCom.
In September, StratCom signed a $92 million contract to continue the arrangement. All together, the institute has drawn $298 million in contracts.
“We have a proven formula in how to do this,” Carter said.
Carter is part of a group of Nebraska leaders who will make a pitch Tuesday via teleconference to the Air Force’s site selection committee.
Carter said Nebraska’s best selling point is its people and quality of life.
“I’ve lived all over the country, all four corners, and in different parts of the world,” he said. “I’ve never been in a place that welcomes the military community and military retirees like Nebraska.”
A final decision on the headquarters location is expected in mid-January.
Photos: Offutt Air Force Base through the years
Offutt Air Force Base is named for Lt. Jarvis Offutt — the first airman from Omaha killed in World War I.
1891
The area now known as Offutt Air Force Base was first commissioned as Fort Crook, an Army post to house cavalry soldiers and their horses. This photo, circa 1905, shows mounted officers and infantry troops assembling on the parade ground. The officers' quarters in the background still stand today, but the closing of Offutt's stables in 2010 ended the base's equine tradition.
1952
Painter Frank Anania places the final bolt in the SAC emblem, newly placed on the command building at Strategic Air Command headquarters. After the command was created in 1946, SAC headquarters were moved from Andrews Field, Maryland, to Offutt Air Force Base. SAC's high-flying reconnaissance planes and bombers would go on to play a global role from the onset of the Cold War through the last bomb of the Persian Gulf War.
1956
The Strategic Air Command "nerve center" gets a new headquarters building at Offutt Air Force Base.
1957
Even since the late 1950s, Strategic Air Command has been holding open house events at Offutt Air Force Base to display and demonstrate aircraft for civilian visitors. Each year, the open house and air show at Offutt features aerial acts or reenactments, static displays, and booths showcasing military history and capabilities.
1959
The first SAC museum consisted of a section of abandoned runway near the north edge of Offutt Air Force Base outside of Bellevue. However, the outdoor display left the aircraft vulnerable to the elements.
1961
A Royal Air Force bomber crashes at Offutt Air Force Base. Beginning in the late 1950s, the RAF maintained small detachment and service facility for Vulcan bomber planes at Offutt, often participating in defense exercises and demonstrations at the base until their retirement and deactivation in 1982. This plane crashed at take-off at the northwest end of the main runway and then slid across Highway 73-75. All seven passengers survived.
1962
Just weeks after the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy visits Offutt Air Force Base, accompanied by Gen. Thomas Power of Strategic Air Command, right.
1962
Actor Rock Hudson receives a B-52 bomber briefing during a visit to Omaha and Offutt Air Force Base. He began filming "A Gathering of Eagles" in May of that year.
1967
An early photograph of the Ehrling Bergquist military medical clinic in Bellevue. The clinic has served Offutt Air Force Base since 1966 and was remodeled in 2013, including a grand staircase, larger physical therapy and mental health areas, and a more private mammography waiting area.
1970
The world's largest aircraft at that time, the C5 Galaxy was displayed as part of the open house for civilian visitors at Offutt Air Force Base.
1989
A conference room in the SAC underground command post at Offutt Air Force Base. Strategic Air Command would be formally disestablished in 1992, but Offutt would remain the headquarters for the new United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).
1992
The Strategic Air Command Memorial Chapel holds a Sunday morning service as a reminder of those who have given their service and those who have died during the Command's 46-year history. Founded in in 1946, the command was dissolved in a ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base.
1997
OPPD worker Craig Azure of Ashland holds a power line up across Platteview Road near Highway 50 so that an Albatross airplane can fit under it. After SAC was dissolved, the museum moved into a new indoor facility in 1998. Airplanes were moved from their old location at Offutt Air Force Base to their new and current home near Mahoney State Park off I-80.
2000
The parade grounds gazebo at Offutt is dedicated in honor of Airman 1st Class Warren T. Willis, who was killed in an aircraft accident the previous December.
2000
President Bill Clinton speaks at a rally at Offutt Air Force Base.
2003
More than 300 anti-nuclear protesters gather outside Kinney Gate at Offutt Air Force Base. The rally was part of a weekend of protest against nuclear weapons, and was organized in response to an extensive nuclear arsenal review being held at the base.
2006
Vice President Dick Cheney greets service men and women following a speech at Offutt Air Force Base's Minuteman missile in Bellevue.
2012
Dignitaries clap along to an armed forces medley as ground is broken for the new U. S. Strategic Command Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base. From left: Neb. Rep. Adrian Smith, Rep. Lee Terry, Neb. Governor Dave Heineman, General C. Robert Kehler, Commander USStratcom, Sen. Ben Nelson, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, and Mayor of Bellevue, Rita Sanders.
2012
Chris Shotton created this thank you message to the airmen and troops flying in and out of Offutt Air Force Base. Employees of area Walmart stores have been writing giant messages in fields near Highway 370 for years.
2013
Senior Airman Kevin Chapman works the desk at the new Public Health Clinic located in the Ehrling Bergquist military medical clinic.
2014
The new MERLIN SS200m Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar System, with the control tower in the background, photographed at Offutt Air Force Base. The system was moved here from Afghanistan in order to help detect large flocks and prevent damages to aircraft from bids, which cost the Air Force millions of dollars each year.
2015
An aerial photo from late February of the construction site for StratCom's new $1.2 billion headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base. Despite numerous delays and setbacks, the building would be completed in 2018, six years after construction began. StratCom would then spend the next year outfitting the structure with more than $600 million worth of high-tech communications and security gear.
2016
President Barack Obama arrives in Omaha after landing at Offutt Air Force Base. While in Omaha, Obama met with the family of Kerrie Orozco, visited a local teacher, and addressed a crowd of about 8,000 at Baxter Arena.
2019
This year, U.S. Strategic Command unveiled a new Command and Control Facility located at Offutt Air Force Base. The "battle deck," shown here, features computer workstations, soundproofing, and the ability to connect instantly to the White House and Pentagon.
2019
Luke Thomas and Air Force Tech Sgt. Vanessa Vidaurre at a flooded portion of Offutt Air Force Base. In March, historic flooding included breaches of two levees protecting the base from the Missouri River.
sliewer@owh.com, twitter.com/Steve Liewer
Steve Liewer
Steve is the military affairs reporter for The World-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @SteveLiewer. Phone: 402-444-1186.
