Strike Command Steps up F
Photo by Sagar Pathak Strike Command Steps Up The legendary SAC is the benchmark for the Air Force’s new nuclear deterrent force. By Adam J. Hebert, Executive Editor That didn’t carry on in the post- SAC years, and, as a result, the ser- vice committed a number of serious arms-related blunders. “The focus on existing standards had atrophied over the years,” said Brig. Gen. Everett H. Thomas, commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Beginning in 1992, the nuclear mis- sion was divided between Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Com- mand. In many ways, it became sec- ondary in competitions for attention, Cold War, however, USAF’s nuclear resources, and prestige. element slowly drifted away from that Now, the SAC outlook is coming exacting standard. back—because that’s the way things It was a mistake, as everyone now will need to be when dealing with the readily, almost compulsively, concede. most powerful weapons on Earth. The That certainly goes for Lt. Gen. Frank creation of Global Strike Command, G. Klotz, the officer chosen to head with a singular focus on the nuclear or nearly 50 years, Strategic Air USAF’s new Global Strike Command. enterprise, is designed to underline Command maintained an unspar- “If there is one unchanging, immu- that. “It became clear” that nuclear ing, no-nonsense operational cul- table truth” about the nuclear arsenal, and conventional missions were “out Fture. After the Air Force disestablished said Klotz, “it is that it demands constant of balance,” Klotz said.
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