Peggy Hodge, AFPN,
The Space and Missile Systems Center here officially dedicated its Schriever Space Complex April 24. “Welcome to our new home,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, SMC commander. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of military space.”
Originally called SAMS — Systems Acquisition Management and Support Complex — the project involved trading government-owned land in the South Bay city of Hawthorne in exchange for construction of its new, seismically safe, secure and efficient facility, General Hamel said.
Its four buildings were built on approximately 52 acres of government-owned land in El Segundo, Calif., a quarter-mile west of its previous home since 1954. As a result of this arrangement, the Air Force gained a new office complex at a fraction of the cost of independently contracting a new office complex, while the Los Angeles-area communities gain government land for development of townhomes.
The ceremony included speeches from General Hamel; Congresswoman Jane Harman, California 36th District; Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, Air Force Space Command vice commander; and Nelson Gibbs, former assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, facilities and the environment.
“How we got here, the importance of this organization, the people and this day goes back many years and was molded by thousands of visionaries,” General Hamel said.
“And today we christen our new home the Schriever Space Complex after one of these visionaries and the 'Father of Military Space,' General Bernard Schriever,” General Hamel said. “These buildings will forever carry on the spirit and the direction, the vision, the dedication that General Schriever started more than 50 years ago.”
The capabilities that have been developed here have fundamentally changed the military, the nation and the world, he said.
“Space was instrumental in how we fought and won the Cold War and today, how our nation is fighting the global war on terror,” General Hamel said. “As we look around our new home, we see the future of space. And I must tell you it is an extraordinary dream that has occurred here.”
“This complex and the work that it does are unique in the world, and they are a big part of the effort to keep America free,” Congresswoman Harman said.
