Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Ogden Air Logistics Center
Ogden Air Materiel Area (OAMA)

Based at Hill AFB, this component of the Air Materiel Command and its successor Air Force Logistics Command played crucial program management roles for several missile systems. The Ogden Air Logistics Center [OO-ALC] has responsibility for the following major Air Force missions: system management, repair, and storage of strategic missiles (MINUTEMAN, and PEACEKEEPER); rocket motor and solid propellent dissection and laboratory analysis (unique to DOD); instrumented rocket motor static firing and analysis, management and storage of non-nuclear air munitions; program/system management, repair and test of full up MAVERICK missiles; system management of the F-16, F-4, and RF-4C; and system management of photographic and reconnaissance equipment, flight simulators and trainers, and landing gear, wheels, brakes, and struts.

During World War II the name of the Ogden Air Depot changed three times: It became Ogden Air Service Command, then Ogden Air Technical Service Command. During this period, Ogden repaired and overhauled B-17, B-24, B-29, P-40, P-61, and A-20 aircraft. On 22 July 1946, Ogden was renamed Ogden Air Material Area (OOAMA).

The US Air Force came into being on 18 September 1947 with passage of the Armed Services Unification Act of 1947, and on 5 February 1948 Hill Field was renamed Hill Air Force Base. In the 10 years that followed, Hill's facility size and workload increased significantly because of the onset of the Korean conflict and the changes in its mission to accommodate several squadron activities, and with the transfer of the Ogden Arsenal on 1 April 1955 from the Army to the Air Force. Additionally, in the 1950s, jet aircraft began to replace the aging B-29 and B-26. OOAMA began modifications on the F-89 as well as inspection and repair of the F-84 in 1953. With the completion of a new runway in 1957 OOAMA received the F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor and the RF-101. In 1957 Ogden also entered into the missile business with the assignment as prime maintenance source on the BOMARC supersonic interceptor missile.

In the 1950s, the Ogden Air Materiel Area, the ranking activity at Hill, began support of jet aircraft, such as the F-84F Thunderstreak, F-84G Thunderjet, RF-84J Thunderflash, F-89 Scorpion, F/RF-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, B-47 Stratojet, and B-57 Night Intruder. OOAMA also assumed prime maintenance responsibilities for the SM-62 Snark, IM-99 Bomarc, SM-73 Goose, and SM-64 Navaho missile systems, as well as the MB-1 Genie rocket system. OOAMA entered into ballistic missile support with the SM-65 Atlas ICBM in 1958 and the SM-80 Minuteman ICBM in 1959.

Ogden's significant role was made possible by an April 1, 1955, transfer of the adjacent Army Ogden Arsenal to Air Force jurisdiction. The acquisition of some 631 additional buildings and nearly 3,500 additional acres positioned Ogden as the central point for Air Force air munitions.

Even before this "merger," Ogden had been involved with emerging missile weaponry. In September 1952, Ogden began supporting the SM-62 Snark program and later became the prime maintenance depot for this long-range missile. On May 5, 1954, the Air Materiel Command assigned Ogden to be the prime maintenance depot for the GAM-67 "Crossbow" air-to-ground missile designed to knock out enemy radars. Budget cuts led to the demise of this weapon and Ogden's responsibility for it ceased in April 1957.

With its increased capacity following the acquisition of the arsenal, Ogden became the prime maintenance manager for the MB-1 Genie nuclear defense rocket, which entered Air Defense Commands inventory in 1957. Designed to be launched from fighter aircraft into enemy bomber formations, the Genie's nuclear warhead made near misses fatal.

By the close of 1956, Ogden's air munitions mission included assigned ammunition and explosive materiel surveillance, safety, and disposal functions. In addition, Odgen conducted and supervised the training of other commands having responsibility to store, handle, transport, escort, inspect, renovate, and dispose of Air Force ammunition (excluding nuclear), including biological and chemical munitions in consonance with USAF operational and logistical concepts.

On June 4, 1957, Air Materiel Command reorganized program management responsibilities for its subordinate commands. Ogden then took over the SM-64 Navaho missile from the Sacramento Air Materiel Area. However, this responsibility quickly ended when the Air Force canceled the program on June 12. Ogden also became responsible for the Bull Goose decoy missile from Middletown Air Materiel Area and transferred program management on the GAM-72 Quail to the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area. Ogden had picked up the "Green Quail" decoy missile program back in March 1956. Ogden held on to the Goose until the program's cancellation in December 1958.

In January 1959, OOAMA was assigned prime managerial responsibility for the MINUTEMAN intercontinental ballistic missile. In 1965, Ogden was also assigned responsibility for the LGM-25 TITAN II Missile. In 1975, HQ AFLC designated OO-ALC as system program manager for the MX PEACEKEEPER missile. OO-ALC is the START inspection site for ICBMs.

One program unaffected by the Air Materiel Command (AMC) reorganization was Ogden's management of the SM-62 Snark program. Ogden's support for this system increased on July 1, 1960, when the command received full executive management responsibility for the Snark. Although the program was canceled a year later, the invaluable experience prepared Ogden to take charge of a longer-term program.

In the 1960s, OOAMA was assigned support and system management duties for the USAF F-4 Phantom II, Titan II/Titan III missiles, and the AGM-65A Maverick missile. Hill AFB also supported the war in Southeast Asia by direct airlifts of hundreds of tons of airmunitions via C-124, C-130, C-133, and C-141 aircraft. The base also picked up maintenance responsibilities for B-58 Hustler and F/RF/FB-111A landing gear components.

On 9 January 1962, AFLC designated OOAMA as the system support manager for the F-4C tactical fighter. On 1 April 1974, OOAMA was renamed the Ogden Air Logistics Center.

Minuteman was just one of several missile systems that kept Ogden personnel busy in the 1960s. A second strategic missile program designated the WS-138A or GAM-87 and called the Skybolt came to Ogden in July 1959. The l,OOO-mile range Skybolt was designed as an air-launched ballistic missile to replace the GAM-63 Rascal air-to-surface missile and serve as a follow-on to the 500-mile range GAM-77 Hound Dog missile. In the ongoing service rivalry for the strategic mission, Skybolt served as an Air Force trump card. Chief of Staff Thomas D. White claimed that the missile gave bombers a flexibility that outmatched missiles launched from submarines. The importance of the program increased again when, in June 1960, the United States agreed to provide the missile to Great Britain. Unfortunately, test failures unfavorably impressed new Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and the program was canceled in December 1961. As compensation for its lost investment in the system, the British eventually received Polaris submarine-launched missiles.

The mid-1960s closures of depots at Rome, New York, San Bernardino, California; Middletown, Pennsylvania; and Mobile, Alabama ensured growth at Ogden, as 5,000 positions came to the Utah facility In 1966, a $12.5 million Minuteman Engineering and Test Facility was dedicated at Hill AFB, which consisted of a launch control facility and a silo. Another facility of this type was built at Ogden in the late 1970s.

In 1968, Ogden became the manager for the air-to-ground Maverick missile. More significantly, in 1973 the center took charge of source and repair responsibility for the strategic Air-Launched Cruise Missile.

The Ogden Air Logistics Center also became system manager of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Advanced Intercontinental Ballistic (M-X) Missile System, and the A-10 Thunderbolt II in the 1970s. OOALC had logistics responsibility for Alaska, western Canada, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

In 1974, the command was redesignated the Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC). In the 197Os, additional missile management responsibilities were transferred to Ogden for the Peacekeeper MX and for such short-range missiles as the Sidewinder and Short-Range Attack Missile.

The 1980s saw the assignment of repair responsibilities for the BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) to Hill. By 1980, Ogden ALC served as the logistics system program manager for the soon-to-be decommissioned Titan II fleet as well as Minuteman II and III, Peacekeeper, and the proposed Midgetman ICBM. As Titan II program manager, Ogden ALC oversaw Project Rivet Cap-the deactivation of the three Titan II missile wings. With deactivation, Ogden's involvement with the Titan II program ended on September 30,1987. As Peacekeeper entered the inventory during the late 1980s Ogden ALC oversaw numerous modernization programs to improve the reliability and survivability of the deployed Minuteman forces. One such program initiated in 1985 was the Minuteman Integrated Life Extension (Project Rivet MILE), which upgraded missile silos and launch control facilities.

Ogden also continued to have responsibility for BOMARC drones and the remaining BOMARC B missiles not reconfigured for target duties. In 1985, the Air Force directed Ogden to dispose of the remaining 48 BOMARC airframes.

The Delta II Long-Term Storage Set manufacture project began in the ICBM Maintenance Division in September 1996. This was the first project that the ICBM SPO accomplished for the Delta II Launch Vehicle Program Office at the Space & Missile Systems Center. The project is comprised of manufacturing two complete storage kits.

For FY94 the workforce totaled 10,299 of which 8,280 were civilian employees and 2,019 were military. Payroll totaled $385.35M. The total industrial complex work force is drawn from seven surrounding counties: Davis County, 34 percent; Salt Lake County, 28 percent; Weber County, 30 percent; and the remaining 8 percent from Cache, Box Elder, Utah, and Morgan Counties. The Salt Lake-Ogden, Utah, metropolitan area is a diverse manufacturing, technology, and industrial environment forming a labor pool with a wide variety of skilled employees. This available labor force is further complemented by prior military Service personnel, who leave the military and remain in the local area. These prior military personnel provide a readily available source of trained labor directly related to Ogden ALC's mission. The Ogden ALC labor force mix is 70.6 percent high skilled, 25.6 percent moderately skilled and 3.8 percent initially unskilled. The majority of Ogden ALC employees has attended institutions of higher education. College graduates make up more than 18 percent of the work force.