Text Fwd: US: Global Strike Command Takes Over ICBMs Today

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Australia.to
December 1, 2009
Global Strike Command Assumes Ballistic Missile Mission

WASHINGTON: Air Force Global Strike Command assumes the U.S. Air Force's
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile mission today.

The transfer of the mission is part of a phased approach, which began in August
with the activation of the Global Strike Command, to unify all Air Force
nuclear-capable assets under one command, officials said.

"We are well on our way to consolidating all of our Air Force assets in this
critical mission area under a single command - one that will serve as a single
major command voice to maintain the high standards necessary for stewardship of
our nation's most powerful weapons," said Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, commander of
the Global Strike Command.

The new command gains three missile wings, one each at F.E. Warren Air Force
Base, Wyo.; Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.; and Minot Air Force Base, N.D.,
with the assumption of the entire 20th Air Force mission, including that
organization's responsibility for all of the United States' 450 ICBMs.

The 576th Flight Test Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., as well as
the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., also now
come under the Command's responsibility. Previously, all of those units were
part of Air Force Space Command.

"The creation of this new command reflects the Air Force's firm and unshakable
conviction that nuclear deterrence and global strike operations are a special
trust and responsibility — one that we take very seriously," Klotz said.

On Feb. 1, Global Strike Command also will gain 8th Air Force, based at
Barksdale, and along with it, 8th Air Force's nuclear-capable bombers. At that
time, the command also will acquire the B-52 Stratofortress wings at Barksdale
and Minot, and the B-2 Spirit wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

The Air Force Global Strike Command was established in an effort to boost
security and reduce errors.

In a 2007 incident, nuclear weapons were loaded aboard a B-52 bomber at Minot
Air Force Base and flown to Barksdale before the mistake was discovered. In
another incident, nuclear nose cones mistakenly were shipped to Taiwan. As a
result, then-Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and then-Air force Chief of Staff
Gen. T. Michael Moseley resigned. Another 15 officers, including six generals,
were disciplined.

The new command is part of a roadmap to improving the Air Force's Stewardship of
its nuclear program, Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley said during an
October 2008 Pentagon media roundtable to introduce the plan.

"This is a critical milestone for us. It's a new starting point for
reinvigoration of this enterprise," he said then. "The changes we make today
will help us focus on this enterprise regardless of other changes in Air Force
missions along the way, and regardless of how big or small the nuclear
enterprise is."
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KSLA-TV
November 30, 2009

KSLA News 12 visits Global Strike Command Headquarters

BARKSDALE AFB, LA: At midnight Monday night 10,000 airmen from around the
country officially begin work under Barksdale's new Global Strike Command.

Monday morning KSLA News 12 was given a first-hand look at the Global Strike
Command's new headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base.

Lt. General Frank Klotz visited with us just moments before leaving to meet with
airmen at bases in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

The Global Stike Command gains those three missile wings and the responsibility
of their intercontinental ballistic missile operations, or I.C.B.M's.

So outside Barksdale's gates, what should we expect?

"There should be no impact to the local community outside of the gates, other
than the fact that people working in the headquarters will continue to move to
the Shreveport-Bossier City area," says Lt. General Frank Klotz. "Therefore
they'll be looking for houses, they'll be looking for apartments to rent, and
they'll be placing children in local schools."

By the end of next summer, Lt. General Klotz says 23,000 will fall under Global
Strike's command, with close to 900 new airmen calling Barksdale home.
....
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* Related article:

AirForce Times
Nuclear wings set to join Global Strike Command
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 1, 2009 15:55:55 EST
(Informed in Defense News)

Text Fwd: Ready To Strike: U.S. Unified Nuclear Global Strike Command

* Image source/ caption: Eloise Ogden/Minot Daily News
Members of the 91st Security Forces with the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base train
for close quarters combat Nov. 5. The wing will be under a new command, Air Force Global Strike Command,
as of Dec. 1 but the jobs of wing personnel will not change.
The 5th Bomb Wing becomes part of the new command Feb. 1.

* Image source/ caption: Eloise Ogden/Minot Daily News
A crew with the 54th Helicopter Squadron at Minot Air Force Base gets ready to leave the base Nov. 5
to support the mission of the 91st Missile Wing in the Minot missile field.
When the helicopter squadron members and others in the missile wing become part of Air Force Global Strike Command on Dec. 1, their jobs remain the same. The 5th Bomb Wing will join the new command Feb. 1.

* Image source: Global Security
'Barksdale AFB', Louisiana

* Text informed by Rick Rozoff (rwrozoff@yahoo.com)

'It is the only base in the Air Force with dual nuclear-capable wings the 5th Bomb Wing and its B-52 bombers and the 91st Missile Wing and its 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles in underground facilities in northwest and north-central North Dakota.
When the new command is fully operational, it will have more than 23,000 people....Air Force Global Strike Command, which will bring together all strategic nuclear forces under one commander, was activated Aug. 7 at Barksdale AFB, the base selected for its headquarters.'


Minot Daily News
November 15, 2009
Ready to strike
Missile, bomb wings to become part of Global Strike Command
By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor (eogden@minotdailynews.com)

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE Members of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base will make history Dec. 1 when they become part of a new command Air Force Global Strike Command. The new command will oversee all of the Air Force's nuclear forces intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers.

They'll be under a new command but the men and women who serve in the Minot missile wing won't notice much change in their jobs, except they'll be wearing the new Global Strike Command patch on their uniform, say new command officials.

Neither will airmen with the 5th Bomb Wing at the Minot base see a major change in their jobs when that wing becomes part of the new command on Feb. 1.

However, Minot AFB will be the most unique Air Force base in the new command, as it is now.

It is the only base in the Air Force with dual nuclear-capable wings the 5th Bomb Wing and its B-52 bombers and the 91st Missile Wing and its 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles in underground facilities in northwest and north-central North Dakota.

When the new command is fully operational, it will have more than 23,000 people, said Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, commander of Global Strike Command, who visited the base and Minot community last month.

Klotz, who has a nuclear background, is a former commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB.

The new command was established as part of a roadmap developed by the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force to refocus energy on the Air Force's nuclear enterprise, Klotz said.

Lt. Col. John Thomas, director of Public Affairs for Global Strike Command, said what is less visible in this reinvigoration of the nuclear enterprise is an organization which has been created in the Air Staff at the Pentagon, which is just about nuclear issues.

Thomas accompanied Klotz to the Minot base and Minot community last month.

Air Force Global Strike Command, which will bring together all strategic nuclear forces under one commander, was activated Aug. 7 at Barksdale AFB, the base selected for its headquarters.

Currently, there are about 250 people at the headquarters. More people come in the door every day," Thomas said. "By the end of summer 2010, there will be 900 or so people who are just dedicated to the reinvigoration of the nuclear enterprise," he said.

The new command will be taking on the nuclear-capable missiles ICBMs and bombers B-52s and B-2s. The B-1 bombers will not become part of the new command because that bomber does not have a nuclear role, Thomas said.

A second squadron of B-52s, the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, was reactivated in September and joins the 23rd Bomb Squadron at the Minot base.

Laurie Arellano, chief of Public Affairs at the Minot base, said about 200 military members have arrived at the base out of the 700 or so military members plus their families projected for the new B-52 squadron.

The new squadron should be fully operational by October 2010, she said. "We will be operational with all planes by that time," she said. The base will be getting more planes from Barksdale AFB to add to its existing fleet.

When the ICBM units come under the new command on Dec. 1 and the bomber units on Feb. 1, the command will be fully operational.

But Thomas said they won't be fully operational and capable until the end of the summer. "It will take a while to build out that whole structure. In the meantime, Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command are there to make sure nothing is dropped," he said.

-
Host wing, installation commander

Under the new command, the 5th Bomb Wing will remain as it is now as the host wing at the Minot base and its commander will remain in his capacity as bomb wing commander and installation commander, Klotz said.

Col. Douglas Cox became commander of the bomb wing replacing Col. Joel Westa Oct. 30. Earlier in October, Col. Fred Stoss III replaced Col. Chris Ayres as missile wing commander.

Even for the short time that the missile wing is under the new command and the bomb wing still is under Air Combat Command, the relationship of the bomb wing being the host wing will be unchanged, Thomas said. He said the Public Affairs Office at the Minot base also will remain under the bomb wing and support both wings as it does now.

Although there aren't major changes planned for Minot AFB, Klotz is looking to replace the helicopters for larger, speedier ones to support the post 9-11 mission. The 54th Helicopter Squadron, which is a unit of the 91st Missile Wing, flies UH-1N helicopters.

By being unified under a single major command, Thomas said perhaps it will make it easier for resourcing the base.

Global Strike Command officials will be keeping a close watch on two important reviews being done by the Department of Defense.

Those reviews the Nuclear Posture Review and the Quadrennial Defense Review are under way now, Klotz told members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce when he spoke to them last month.

The reviews determine force structure requirements and final reports for both reviews will be provided to Congress in early 2010.

Whatever the outcome is of the reviews, Klotz said the role of the airmen at the Minot base will be the same.


__________________________________________________________________
Fact Box

Air Force Global Strike Command units

As of Dec. 1, 20th Air Force, with its headquarters at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., will come under Air Force Global Strike Command, along with its units:

- 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB

- 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren AFB

- 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont.

All three missile wings are intercontinental ballistic missile wings.

As of Feb. 1, 8th Air Force, with its headquarters at Barksdale AFB, will come under the new command, along with its units:

- 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB

- 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB

- 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo.

The Minot and Barksdale wings have B-52s and the Missouri wing has the B-2.

Two direct reporting units also will be part of the new command:

- 576th Flight Test Squadron (ICBM test) at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

- 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt AFB, Neb.
____________________________________________________________________

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Text Fwd: Global Strike Command Will Stress Nuclear Mission

* Image source/ description : Same as the article below
'Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, left, and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, answer questions at an Aug. 5, 2009, Pentagon news conference on the Air Force Global Strike Command activation. The new command, with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., stands up Aug. 7, 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Scott M. Ash'

* StopNATO

http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=55403
U.S. Department of Defense American Forces Press Service August 7, 2009 Global Strike Command Will Stress Nuclear Mission By Jim Garamone

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2009 – A key step in reinvigorating the Air Force’s nuclear deterrence mission will be made today with the activation of the service’s Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley said the new command will bring together the Air Force bomber force and intercontinental ballistic missiles under a single commander.

“Standing up the command is no small task, and actually we’re doing it sooner than we anticipated,” Donley said during a Pentagon news conference Aug. 5. “This command will provide the combatant commanders the forces needed to conduct strategic nuclear deterrence and global strike operations through ICBM, B-2 and B-52 operations.”

Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz will command the organization. The headquarters will include 900 people, and is slated to reach full operating capability by Aug. 7, 2010, Donley said. The 20th Air Force, the service’s missile organization, will come under the new command in December; and the 8th Air Force, the bomber component, will come under the command in April.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz stressed that the new command will be a major command like Air Combat Command or Air Force Special Operations Command. The role is to “organize, train and equip America’s ICBMs and nuclear-capable bombers, and prepare a cadre to do this important work with passion and professionalism,” he said during the news conference.

Ensuring professionalism and pride in the nuclear field will be vital to the command’s success, Schwartz said, noting that airmen with nuclear expertise had been leaving the service, feeling their work was not appreciated.

“The bottom line is retention has a lot to do with perceptions on how important people’s work is, and how worthy that work is,” the general said. “We’ve worked to make it clear to those who will serve in this command that the work is important to the country’s defense and it will continue to be so.”

Making the command a major command also will give airmen in the nuclear fields an advocate equal to the other commands, he said.

The creation of the command is an effort to boost security and reduce errors. In a 2007 incident, nuclear weapons were loaded aboard a B-52 bomber at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and flown to Barksdale before the mistake was discovered. In another incident, nuclear nose cones mistakenly were shipped to Taiwan. As a result, the service’s top civilian and military officials -- Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley -- resigned.

Multiple studies of the incidents and the Air Force’s atmosphere revealed that the service’s nuclear forces and the entire enterprise lacked clear lines of authority and responsibility, officials said. The Global Strike Command is one of the solutions.

Donley said moves at the Air Staff and in the field have emphasized accountability and compliance with respect to nuclear issues at all levels. The service has re-emphasized training for inspectors and added $750 million over the Future Year Defense Plan for nuclear efforts, in addition to a $4.2 billion base budget. The service also is standing up another B-52 squadron, in part to provide for longer and more focused training.

A number of entities have an interest in the nuclear arena, including the U.S. Strategic Command and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. These agencies will play a key role in inspections of the new command, Schwartz said.

The command will have an inspector general, and the service has made a special effort to make the inspections “more challenging and intrusive to ensure that commanders get good feedback in how healthy their commands were,” the general said.

Inspections will be demanding, he promised, and will include operations, security, maintenance and weapons.

The emphasis on the nuclear missions means that when a mission requires B-2s or B-52s to carry conventional weapons, they will be reassigned from the new command to the regional commanders for that mission. Global Strike Command will ensure that air and ground crews have expertise in conventional weaponry and raids, but the focus must remain on the nuclear capability, the chief of staff said.

Biographies:
Michael B. Donley
Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz
Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz

Related Sites:
Air Force Global Strike Command
Air Force News Release

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