Norwegian defense chief Army Gen. Harald Sunde last week reviewed the Air Force’s nuclear deterrent arsenal on a visit to the 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, N.D. “This visit is intended to give General Sunde a greater understanding of strategic deterrence so that he can better communicate the importance of deterrence to multiple audiences back in Norway,” said Minot spokesman Lt. Jose Davis, reported the Minot Daily News on Aug, 17. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey invited Sunde to tour Minot specifically because it is the only base in the Air Force to house both B-52H nuclear-capable bombers and Minuteman III ICBMs, according to the report. Sunde engaged with base leaders and visited Minot flight and missile field operations on Aug. 15.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…