Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is headquarters of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), an interservice command under the Department of Defense. The Strategic Command is the control center for U.S. nuclear offensive forces and military space operations, and for defense against nuclear and long-range conventional missile attacks on the United States. USSTRATCOM was created in 1992.
The base covers 4,063 acres (1,644 hectares) south of Omaha. On this site, the U.S. Army established Fort Crook in 1891. In 1921, the Army completed construction of an airfield there. In 1924, the airfield was named Offutt Field after First Lieutenant Jarvis J. Offutt, a pilot killed in World War I. In 1946, the Army Air Forces gave the name Offutt Field to all of Fort Crook. In 1948, the newly created U.S. Air Force acquired Offutt Field and named it Offutt Air Force Base. Offutt served as the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command from 1948 until 1992, when the Air Force eliminated the command.
See also Strategic Air Command .
