Defense Secretary Mark Esper acknowledged that heavy government spending on anti-Coronavirus efforts could suppress defense spending in coming years, and said the Pentagon will prioritize modernization programs over legacy systems if the budget flattens. There are "dozens" of legacy programs Esper said he would be ...
The Air Force expects to lose confidence in the full viability of its 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles starting in 2026, three years before replacement nuclear missiles start entering the ground, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.“ According to Air Force officials, as a ...
The nation’s nuclear triad is working to get ahead of the new coronavirus outbreak by placing key personnel in “protective self-quarantines.” U.S. Strategic Command also is prescreening service members and depending on long-established redundancies in a community designed to operate independently, Adm. Charles Richard told ...
Air Force Global Strike Command on Feb. 10 held a no-notice leadership call at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, following reports of marijuana use by security forces airmen tasked with protecting the base’s nuclear missile fields. “Our solemn duty is to protect this nation. ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.—You see the intercontinental ballistic missile before you hear it. Upon ignition in its underground silo, the horizon blooms bright red-orange, and a ball of light rises west over the Pacific Ocean. A dull roar intensifies as the unarmed nuclear missile ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.—Air Force Global Strike Command’s No. 2 officer said his organization is comfortable with how the next-generation land-based nuclear missile program is progressing despite having only Northrop Grumman involved in the design competition. “What we have seen so far is going ...
After a heated partisan fight over the Pentagon's nuclear modernization efforts, House and Senate authorizers agreed to let the Air Force's key strategic programs move forward relatively unscathed.
Air Force Global Strike Command’s second decade in business will be a busy one. Created in 2009 as Strategic Air Command’s post-Cold War replacement, Global Strike oversees the bulk of the Pentagon’s nuclear weapons and provides bomber aircraft for combat operations and deterrence flights around ...
Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist told lawmakers Nov. 20 the Air Force needs to improve its system for tracking intercontinental ballistic missile motors, after the service’s fiscal 2019 audit noted 79 motors were listed as being in the wrong place. The Defense Department revealed the ...