The latest Program Executive Office added to the Odyssey service portfolio operates within the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC), Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Integration Directorate at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts. The NC3 Directorate integrates the Air Force NC3 Weapon System across the Department of the Air Force (DAF), to ensure our nation’s leaders and warfighters have assured communications anytime, under any conditions.

The NC3 Professional Advisory and Assistance Services (PAAS) contract provides Acquisition Program Management, Configuration Management, Security, Cost, Contracting, and Administrative support for the NC3 Directorate, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. Odyssey personnel will perform their duties from sites at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, Eglin AFB, Florida, Peterson SFB, Colorado, The Pentagon, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska.

Created in 2015, the AFNWC/NC mission is to unify and integrate the entire AF NC3 Weapon System, combatting previous issues within the enterprise where various NC3 systems operated with stovepiped perspectives / management without consideration of the system’s complimentary pieces. NC3 has been defined as a set of national level capabilities that must be assured, reliable, and resilient across the range of threat conditions—from benign to highly contested—through all phases of nuclear (and, at times, non-nuclear) conflict, with numerous external stakeholders. These entities include the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff (JS), Combatant Commands (CCMDs), other Services (Army, Navy, Space Force), Combat Support Agencies (e.g., Defense Information Systems Agency, National Security Agency), and the White House Military Office.

As stated by General Thomas Bussiere, Commander of Air Force Global Strike Commander (AFGSC), at the 2023 AFGSC Congressional Posture Statement to HASC-SF: “NC3 is a no-fail mission… we aim to highlight its importance as we continue striving to bring visibility to NC3.”

AFNWC/NC Director Scott Hardiman serves as the NC3 Program Executive Officer (PEO) for developing and fielding the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF) NC3 systems across the Nuclear Enterprise, encapsulating a diverse set of 29 programs that include communication terminals and devices, radios, and conferencing equipment. His oversight of these programs ensures the integration of the system-of-systems of the AN/USQ-225, the AF NC3 Weapon System, enabling smart modernization and adaption across the DAF. In addition to those two roles, Mr. Hardiman also serves as the USAF Integrating PEO (IPEO) for NC3. In this role he is charged with ensuring that the AF NC3 Weapon System appropriately integrates with other Air Force Weapon Systems (i.e., the DAF Battle Network).

The AF NC3 Weapon System construct is analogous to the connections required of a Fire and Rescue Response Network. If you have a fire in your home, you would want the correct warning system to be in place to notify you when and where there is a fire. You would want that warning to arrive through an appropriate communications hub across efficient networks that allow decision makers / dispatch to determine what kind of response is required. Simultaneously, you would want the communications and control network to notify the fire department, enabling the assets closest to the fire to respond in a timely manner with the correct resources deployed to put out the fire.

The AN/USQ-225 is the USAF communications subset of the NC3 System that delivers the C2 component of the above example. While it provides critical connectivity, it does not include all of the systems and components necessary to execute all aspects of Nuclear Command and Control (e.g., early warning radar, planning systems). The “No-Fail” aspect inherent in this is due to the understanding that any break in the chain of the notification / deployment system jeopardizes the execution of the Nuclear mission.

The personnel of the NC3 Directorate serve as the principal integrators across the DAF, responsible for capability development and modernization, integration of individual systems, and the system-of-systems that make up the AN/USQ-225. NC3 Directorate personnel also are responsible for the overall enterprise integration of the weapon system with the network of DoD systems dependent on the system’s operational capability.

The Odyssey Team supports various aspects the AFPEO’s 29 Air Force NC3 programs, which include:

• Acquisition Category (ACAT) I
• ACAT IIs, 5 ACAT IIIs
• Software Acquisition Program (SWP)
• Middle Tier of Acquisition Programs
• Programs in Operations & Sustainment
• Investment Activities focused on future capability development as shown in the figure below

As the prior SECAF, Mr. Frank Kendall said in the 2022 National Defense Strategy and as part of the Nuclear Posture Review: “resilient NC3 capabilities are a critical enabler of mission assurance for nuclear options.”

The AF NC3 Weapon System provides the resilient, secure, survivable C2 communications from the President and Senior Leaders to the warfighter in support of the nation’s nuclear deterrence options. AFNWC/NC serves as the NC3 experts, supplemented by Odyssey’s support on the NC3 PAAS contract. These contractors are responsible for the integration of the AN/USQ-225 Weapon System across the DAF and the DOD’s nuclear enterprise, optimizing the deterrent value that outpaces our adversaries both today and into the future.

In addition, throughout the entirety of the Acquisition lifecycle, the NC directorate strategically drives to modernize the system from within and throughout the enterprise, leveraging the support of its industry partners and helped by Odyssey and other Acquisition support partners.

For more information on the NC3 Directorate, visit the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.