The Air Force announced Thursday afternoon that it had settled on Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana as the permanent site for the headquarters of its new Air Force Global Strike Command. The service had tapped Barksdale in April as its preferred location for the new command, which will comprise the service’s force of nuclear-capable bombers and ICBMs, pending the outcome of the required environmental assessment. That decision sparked much dismay among folks in Nebraska, who thought Offutt Air Force Base, the former home to Strategic Air Command, would be the logical choice. According to the Air Force’s June 18 statement, it will activate the new command at Barksdale on Aug. 7. The service already has selected Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz to lead the command.
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.