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New generations of enemy missiles, and a willingness to use them, could put air bases under siege like never before. Operating from air bases under threat of missile attack may become one of the most important keys to projecting US airpower in the years ahead. For all its expeditionary experience, it has been decades since the Air Force has so intently focused on this problem. Now, top leadership is again taking it seriously. "The attack against the naval base at Pearl Harbor was recorded in history as a day which will live in infamy," said Air Force Chief of Staff...

More than 200 Airmen and two B-52H Stratofortress aircraft arrived here recently to replace the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron. The Airman are assigned to the 69th Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and are supporting U.S. Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence. "Our number one priority is to support theater objectives and maintain peace and stability in the region," said Lt. Col. Michael Cardoza, the 69th EBS commander. "After that, we are looking forward to honing our combat skills in a variety of conventional mission sets. "We have spent the last year primarily focused on perfecting our nuclear mission....

The French Strategic Air Forces' top officer, Lt. Gen. Paul Fouilland, visited Air Force Global Strike Command here recently as part of a continuing dialogue between the two nations' strategic air forces. The Global Strike Command commander, Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, toured French air bases in July to inaugurate what is intended to be a regular series of exchange visits. "In all of our meetings with our French counterparts, I've been very impressed with their professionalism, technical expertise, and absolute dedication to their deterrence mission," said General Klotz. "We have a lot in common, and can learn a great deal...

Over the past 15 months, Air Force officials have built from scratch a model new command that will sustain and modernize U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile wings and the nuclear-capable bomber fleet, said the general who leads the new command. "Some people have likened that to trying to build an airplane while actually having to fly it," Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz told a group of defense reporters here Nov. 9. "And at times, it has seemed like that to us."

The U.S. military is looking into an incident on Saturday in which it lost communications with 50 long-range nuclear-armed missiles based in the northern United States. The U.S. Air Force's new Global Strike Command lost communications with the missiles for about 45 minutes, and says it immediately dispatched troops to inspect the sites. The check determined there was no damage and no evidence of sabotage. A spokesman for the command says investigators believe a faulty circuit board at a control center was to blame. The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel John Thomas, says experts found that the same type of part failed...

When the Air Force announced an $11.9 billion sustainment contract to Boeing last week for the venerable and enduring B-52 eyebrows shot up along the Potomac, especially on Capitol Hill. It appeared to provide roughly $127 million per airplane spread out over eight years, one hell of a lot of money for a plane that originally cost $9.3 million in 1955 (somewhere around $76 million per in current dollars). So we checked with the Air Force to get some details on just what was happening and why. Congressional aides were flabbergasted by the contract, for which no money has been...

The US Air Force has awarded Boeing a potentially $11.9 billion contract to support weapon system modernisation of its B-52 bomber fleet. "This contract will include several delivery orders over an eight-year period. This is a contracting vehicle that will allow engineering sustaining contracts, studies, production and other activities to occur in support of the B-52," says Boeing. The company expects to receive its first funds in relation to the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity deal on 30 September, it says.

As the venerable Tomahawk missile becomes too vulnerable for certain targets, naval observers have wondered why the Navy isn’t racing to fill the U.S. surface fleet’s 7,804 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells with a new generation of anti-ship or fast land-attack munitions. Our wait is over. The big brains at DARPA are aiming to appropriate VLS cells for the Prompt Global Strike Mission. Meet ArcLight–the weapon that will change the way the world thinks about U.S. surface combatants: “The ArcLight program will design, build, and flight test a long range (> 2,000 nm) vehicle that carries a 100–200 lb payload(s)....

Intercontinental ballistic missile, B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer units are competing in the first Global Strike Challenge, showcasing the capabilities and expertise of missile, bomber and security forces Airmen. "Global Strike Challenge will help us build pride and a culture of excellence," said Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, the Air Force Global Strike Command commander. It is "the beginning of a new tradition-- the best of the past launching us into the future," he said. Global Strike Challenge pits units' top security forces, maintainers, and missile and bomber crews in head-to-head competition to be recognized as the best...

Despite an ongoing Defense Department review of potential follow-on options for the Air Force's premiere intercontinental ballistic missile program, development of a new ICBM system will not be one of those options, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said today. While the final results and subsequent recommendations from the Minuteman III ICBM review are not due for months, the service is not ready to dedicate funding or other resources toward the development of a new nuclear missile, Donley said during a breakfast in Washington. “We have already taken steps to get [the Minuteman III] to 2020; now we are focused on...

For nearly 50 years, Strategic Air Command maintained an unsparing, no-nonsense operational culture. After the Air Force disestablished the legendary SAC at the end of the Cold War, however, USAF’s nuclear element slowly drifted away from that exacting standard. It was a mistake, as everyone now will readily, almost compulsively, concede. That certainly goes for Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, the officer chosen to head USAF’s new Global Strike Command. “If there is one unchanging, immutable truth” about the nuclear arsenal, said Klotz, “it is that it demands constant and undivided attention.” That didn’t carry on in the post-SAC years,...

The US Air Force on Wednesday test launched a hypersonic cruise missile, with the vehicle accelerating to Mach 6 before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, officials said. The Air Force said the test flight of the X-15A Waverider lasted more than 200 seconds, the longest ever hypersonic flight powered by scramjet propulsion. The previous record was 12 seconds in a NASA X-43 vehicle. "We are ecstatic to have accomplished most of our test points on the X-51A's very first hypersonic mission," Charlie Brink, program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. "We...

Approximately 150 maintenance Airmen, 2nd Bomb Wing pilots and support members recently returned from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, where they participated in the 10-day Exercise Red Flag-Alaska. The exercise is designed to provide realistic and demanding air-combat training to flying unit members from across the Air Force, Department of Defense and Allied nations. "Everyone who participates (in the exercise) benefits greatly from the training," said Maj. Thomas Aranda, the 96th Bomb Squadron assistant director of operations. "The aviators enjoy some of the most realistic air-combat training available and the maintainers push the edge of the envelope by generating combat...

More has emerged on the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Electric Laser on Large Aircraft (ELLA) program and, as anticipated, it's an effort to fit DARPA's Hellads laser into the weapons bay of a B-1B bomber to flight-test a high-power electric laser against tactical targets. General Atomics and Textron Systems are developing rival 150kW lasers under Hellads, with the goal of demonstrating a laser weapon system weighing less than 5kg/kW - substantially smaller and lighter than any previous airborne laser. Lockheed Martin is designing the laser weapon system module (LWSM), including power, cooling and beam director. Answers to bidder questions...

Prompt Global Strike (PGS) is an initiative of the United States military to develop a system capable of a conventional weapon strike anywhere in the world within an hour. The system is designed for time-critical strike in emergency situation, or to counter terrorist activities like attacking a terrorist leader based on inputs of his location, or against a rogue state preparing to launch an attack by localised destruction of his weapon assets. Need for Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) can be described in a given scenario where the United States has learned of a terrorist group’s plan to transport a...

The non-nuclear B-1 Lancer has adapted from a strategic mission to a close-air support role, and will continue to play an effective part in today's fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to leaders here. While the remaining bombers in the Air Force inventory transferred to Air Force Global Strike Command, the B-1 has become the go-to airframe when combatant commanders want a show of force or support for ground troops. "The predominance of what we are doing right now in theater is close-air support; non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and armed overwatch" said Col. Charlie Catoe, 7th Operations Group commander....

The U.S. Strategic Command last year held one of its largest major exercises simulating a nuclear attack on the United States and a counterstrike involving bombers, ground-based missiles and submarine-launched missiles. Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton last week told the House Armed Services subcommittee that the exercise was “the most extensive nuclear command, control and communications field exercise in over a decade.” “It demonstrated the full range of nuclear deterrence capabilities by integrating submarine strategic deterrent patrols, more than 90 aircraft sorties, an ICBM test launch, and five days of continuous airborne command-and-control operations,” he said. The exercise, held from...

The new START treaty that would cut the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons could also prompt the United States to trim the bomber leg of its nuclear force. Limits that reduce the number of deployed "launchers" to 700 could encourage U.S. nuclear policy makers to rely more on land-based and sea-based ballistic missiles and less on B-2 and B-52 bombers, said Tom Collina, research director at the Arms Control Association. "The bomber leg of the triad is not what you think about when you think about survivability and quick response," he said. At present, the United States has...

Northrop Grumman has returned to service with the U.S. Air Force a freshly painted, completely overhauled B-2 stealth bomber known as the "Spirit of Pennsylvania." The aircraft lifted off from Air Force Plant 42 here early in the morning on Jan. 26 for its return flight to Whiteman Air Force Base, operational home of the Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing and the nation's fleet of B-2s. "The Spirit of Pennsylvania is the latest B-2 to complete a comprehensive overhaul process called programmed depot maintenance (PDM) that we perform in Palmdale on every B-2 every seven years," said Dave Mazur, vice...

For nearly a decade, the Pentagon has grappled with finding a way to field a weapon with the speed and range of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but without the political ramifications of launching a nuke. Now Boeing says it has the answer: a revived 1980s-era hypersonic missile that could strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour. The company says it has a missile concept ready, and that if it gets the go-ahead and funding from the Pentagon, the weapon could be ready for fielding within 30 months. The missile, which was developed in the 1980s, is already...