December 1949 the Special Weapons Command (SWC), a USAF Major Command, was established to develop and test atomic weapons. New Mexico Air Defense Along with its assignment under SWC, Kirtland AFB received a related air defense mission for Air Defense Command (ADC). Kirtland housed an ADC Air Defense Detection Center (ADDC) which would then alert the Fighter-Interceptor squadrons and the Air Defense Control Center (ADCC) for unknown aircraft intrusions in ADC monitored airspace. The ADCC would then alert ADC's Central Air Defense Force, which consisted of the Western Air Defense Force [WADF], the Central Air Defense Force [CADF], and the Eastern Air Defense Force [EADF]. Kirtland hosted one of the first ADCCs in the country, which was under construction at Kirtland in late 1950 and operational before the close of 1951 as part of the 34th Air Division (Defense). ADCCs were innovative buildings that were proto-hardened and designed for protection from atomic, biological, and chemical warfare. A single ADCC controlled multiple FISs for its air defense jurisdiction. Along with the ADCC at KAFB was a corresponding ADDC. The central New Mexico region was considered a high air defense priority in the early Cold War because of Sandia Laboratory, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL), and the newly created nuclear weapons stockpile. On 25 April 1950, KAFB became HQ for the newly created 34th Air Division (Defense). The 34th Air Division (Defense) protected New Mexico and Arizona, most of Colorado and Utah, and a portion of West Texas. This included Los Alamos, the Sandia Kirtland complex, the White Sands and Biggs, Walker and Davis-Monthan Air Force Bases. In tandem with its hosting of HQ 34th Air Division (Defense), Kirtland began hosting a subordinate Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) radar station in 1950. The 690th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron in charge of the station was supported, at the outset of the mission, directly on base in temporary Jamesway huts—round Quonset-hut type structures. KAFB remained the HQ for the 34th Air Division (Defense) throughout the 1950s until 1 January 1960. From that date until 1 November 1960, the zone was referred to as the Albuquerque Air Defense Sector. By the early 1960s, however, the USAF began shifting emphasis away from intercepting bombers in favor of the detection of Intercontinental ballistic missiles. Funding cutbacks began to cripple ADC programs, and that particular era of air defense drew to a close. 81st Fighter-Interceptor Wing In