Cheyenne center upgrade complete

Military officials earlier this month turned on the new command center, complete with new hardware, software and big-screen displays, inside the granite-hardened Cheyenne Mountain facility.

The event marks the second operational capability of the Air Force’s $1.5 billion Integrated Space Command and Control (ISC2) program, a 15-year initiative to update the command and control system of Strategic Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to become more interoperable and support the National Command Authority and the Canadian Chief of Defense Staff. The system warns of aircraft, space, ballistic missile and information attacks against North America.

The renovation of the command center, located in Colorado, occurred in two phases. Phase 1, completed by John Bowman Inc., involved construction of the center, a conference room and a meeting room used by the commander and senior staff leaders. Phase 2, performed by Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems business unit, consisted of the design, purchase and installation of the hardware, software and big-screen displays, according to the NORAD statement.

Last year, Air Force officials flipped the switch on the first of three new computer systems inside Cheyenne Mountain called Air Mission Release 1.