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Appendix C U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Location Profiles, CONTINUED
Able”), a 2880 acre facility constructed amid a small range of foothills in the Manzano mountains
near the southeast end of the base, was opened.
The facility at Manzano Base was a large complex of plants where weapons maintenance and
storage occurred. During the initial phases of nuclear weapons development the AEC was responsible
for the nuclear component of warheads, and the DOD was responsible for the non-nuclear components.
The nuclear materials–stored in special rooms separate from weapons–required constant
maintenance to insure readiness. This involved rotating individual weapons in and out of storage in
igloos at Manzano and taking them through several rooms in four plants for various phases of maintenance.
Initially the Army was responsible for Manzano, but in early 1952, the Air Force 1094th Special
Reporting Group was established and took control of the base. The 1094th went through a variety of
redesignations over the years, until 1 April 1994, when the current 898th Munitions Squadron was
established. The 56-acre KUMSC was completed in 1994, consolidating warhead storage in a new
facility outside of Manzano mountain. KUMSC is located on the southeast side of the installation,
approximately 3.5 miles east of the main base. Nuclear weapons moved by air in and out of KUMSC
use the Albuquerque International Airport.
New Mexico has also been involved in the production of nuclear weapons in three phases. The
first bombs were made at Los Alamos. And now, the Laboratory is again building up a capacity to
design and assemble prototype nuclear “pits,” nuclear warheads, and weapons-like devices. The
assembly of thermonuclear warheads also occurred in New Mexico, at the Technical Area II (TA-2)
facility at Sandia Base in the early and mid-1950s. TA-2 is a diamond-shaped parcel of 45.5 acres.
Buildings 904 and 907 were originally facilities where the fabrication of the high explosive spheres
for implosion type weapons was carried out (this lasted until 1958.) Building 907, currently the
Explosives Application Facility, was constructed in 1948 and is located in the northern portion of
TA-2. Early Nagasaki-type bombs used up to five thousand pounds of high explosive and the buildings
were designed to reduce damage if there was an explosion. Three blast walls, 12 feet-thick,
separate each of four assembly bays. An earthen berm on the south side of the building was also built
to try and isolate Building 907 in case of an accidental explosion. A fifth bay, located at the end of the
building, was used to package and ship assembled weapons. An overhead crane would then be used
to lift the weapon through the roof onto a truck for transport to the field.
In a definitive inventory taken in 1994, the Sandia Nuclear Materials Storage Facility (NMSF)
had a total nuclear material inventory of approximately 57 metric tons, of which less than one metric
ton was highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Nuclear materials were stored at the time at Manzano
Base structures, NMSF cells, and at Technical Areas I and V.
The 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB (F-117A stealth fighters) is also thought to be nuclear
certified. Formerly known as Alamogodo Army Air Field, Holloman was originally designed for training
British bomber crews, but was later adapted to serve as a training base for U.S. bomber crews (B-
17s and B-29s). On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb (code named Trinity) was exploded in the
northeast corner of the air field’s bombing range. After World War II most operations at the base
ceased, but in 1947 Air Material Command reactivated the base to develop pilotless aircraft and
guided missiles, and it was renamed Holloman AFB the following year. The base remained a primary
location for guided missile and space research until 1968 when the 49th Wing arrived. On May 9,
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