Nebraska legislators last year set aside $50 million in state money as part of a failed bid to bring the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Offutt Air Force Base.
Now they’re looking to use that money to prepare the Bellevue-area base for future projects.
A pair of legislative bills introduced last month would divide the money from the state’s “rainy day†fund into two separate pots.
The first, LB1232, would channel $20 million toward building an “innovation hub†just south of the base to support the U.S. Strategic Command’s growing Nuclear Command, Control and Communication mission (known within StratCom as NC3).
The second, LB1233, would use the other $30 million to fund quality-of-life projects such as a new outdoor sports pavilion, walking trails and improvements to the base lake, golf course, track-and-field stadium and airmen’s dormitories.
“We put $50 million aside and didn’t use it,†said Rick Evans, executive director of the University of Nebraska’s , a think tank that supports StratCom. “These are things the (55th) Wing leadership had indicated are priority projects for Air Force funding, or for civic support.â€
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee held hearings Feb. 10 on the two bills, which were introduced by Sens. Mike McDonnell of Omaha and Rita Sanders of Bellevue.
Both bills would require matching funds from private donors — usually not a problem in Omaha, where private-sector cash has helped build a VA clinic, two arenas, a convention center, a ballpark and other civic projects.
No one testified against the bills.
The effort started in late 2020, when Offutt was selected as one of six finalists to become the headquarters of U.S. Space Command. A year earlier, it had been reactivated as one of the military’s unified combatant commands, responsible for fighting wars in space. Those duties had been carried out by StratCom since 2002.
As part of its bid, a committee of local business and political leaders assembled $107 million in public and private incentives to get the Air Force — which was in charge of site analysis and selection — to pick Offutt for the SpaceCom headquarters.
In January 2021, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, was selected instead, in one of the last major decisions of the Trump administration.
The $50 million set aside by Nebraska lawmakers at the request of Gov. Pete Ricketts is still in the rainy day fund. McDonnell and Sanders thought it was worth using the money to boost any future bids to bring a new military command to the base.
That started with the list of outdoor amenities that could be funded through LB1233, which Sanders introduced.
“There wasn’t a whole lot for (airmen) to do outdoors,†she said. “We’re not going to get SpaceCom. But if we’re looking at getting another command, these are the things we need to do.â€
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Besides the proposed recreational facilities, the bill lists renovation of the Fort Crook House (Offutt’s VIP guest house, also known as Quarters 13, built in 1894), a rooftop garden on StratCom’s headquarters and the construction of a new “Deterrence Park.â€
Deterrence Park would bring together several iconic StratCom and Strategic Air Command artifacts: a pair of Atlas and Minuteman II missile shells now mounted in front of the former SAC/StratCom building, plus a B-52 strategic bomber and an EC-135 Looking Glass jet displayed outside the Kenney Gate.
They would be joined by the sail of a ballistic-missile submarine, if organizers could acquire one, Evans said. All would be located together in a park outside StratCom’s new headquarters, which opened in 2019.
Evans, a retired Air Force major general, said he came up with the concept in 2018, while serving in a leadership role at StratCom.
“A lot of people liked the idea,†he said. “But there are costs.â€
The idea for the NC3 innovation hub came out of a suggestion from Adm. Charles Richard, StratCom’s commander, said University of Nebraska President Ted Carter, who is a retired Navy vice admiral.
NC3 involves the network of high-tech communication links that connect the air, land and sea-based nuclear weapons systems under StratCom’s control with the civilian and military leaders who would be tasked with giving orders to use them.
Those communication links had long been considered a neglected piece of the nation’s nuclear infrastructure. Only a few years ago, StratCom was still using 1970s-vintage floppy disks to communicate emergency response messages from Offutt to its weapons platforms.
In 2018, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis handed control of NC3 to StratCom, with a charge to modernize it.
“All the weapons systems are useless if you can’t connect to the decision-makers,†Evans said. “NC3 is what links the president to the forces.â€
Carter has fleshed out the concept of the innovation hub to include an $80 million campus near Offutt that would bring together large defense contractors, small businesses and academics in science and technology. It would include between 100,000 and 200,000 square feet of offices, including classified spaces.
“This facility is really about linking all these players with StratCom in one place, where we can all share ideas,†Evans said.
The City of Bellevue has committed $4 million to acquire about 70 acres of vacant land south of Offutt and build essential infrastructure. Carter said at least 14 defense contractors, including Oracle and Dell, already have agreed to participate.
He said the Nebraska Defense Research Corp., the group created to shepherd the project, already has received financial commitments totaling $19 million
“We’re very confident we can raise the rest,†Carter said. “We’re really excited that we have a path forward.â€
The Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland displays a restored EC-135 Looking Glass jet, pictured in 2021. A newly proposed park at Offutt Air Force Base would bring together several iconic StratCom and Strategic Air Command artifacts for display, including a Looking Glass jet.
A Minuteman missile is shown outside the former StratCom headquarters building in 2005. The proposed Deterrence Park at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue would display a pair of Atlas and Minuteman II missile shells.