ICBMs on Track for December Shift

The Air Force’s arsenal of Minuteman III ICBMs is on track for its planned December switchover from Air Force Space Command to Air Force Global Strike Command. Gen. Robert Kehler, AFSPC commander, said he does not expect any delays moving 20th Air Force, its airmen, and its missiles to a new major command overseer. “Separating the staffs is always the hardest” for moves such as these, he said, but the Air Force has experience changing oversight of its nuclear ballistic missiles. Kehler said Sept. 14 at AFA’s Air & Space Conference that just during his career, the ICBMs have moved from Strategic Air Command, to Air Combat Command, to Space Command. AFGSC, commanded by Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz at Barksdale AFB, La, is being given oversight over the two-thirds of the nation’s nuclear triad resident in USAF—ICBMs and nuclear-capable bombers. The new major command was created to consolidate oversight of the strategic nuclear systems, part of USAF’s overall drive to strengthen its nuclear enterprise.