Strategic Air Command

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Strategic Air Command
Bolling Field, District of Columbia
Motto(s)"Peace is Our Profession"
March"Strategic Air Command March"[1]
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Gen Curtis LeMay
Insignia
Shield (subdued)

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces[2] from 1946 to 1992. SAC was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airborne command posts; and most of the USAF's aerial refueling aircraft.

SAC primarily consisted of the Second Air Force (2AF), Eighth Air Force (8AF) and the Fifteenth Air Force (15AF), while SAC headquarters (HQ SAC) included Directorates for Operations & Plans, Intelligence, Command & Control, Maintenance, Training, Communications, and Personnel. At a lower echelon, SAC headquarters divisions included Aircraft Engineering, Missile Concept,[3] and Strategic Communications.

In 1992, as part of an overall post-Cold War reorganization of the U.S. Air Force, SAC was disestablished as both a Specified Command and as a

Unified Combatant Command
to replace SAC's Specified Command role.

In 2009, SAC was reactivated and redesignated as the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). AFGSC eventually acquired all USAF bomber aircraft and the intercontinental ballistic missile force.[4]

Background

The 1946–1951 SAC patch (above) was replaced by the patch with insignia that won a SAC contest.

The Strategic Air Forces of the United States during

General Carl Spaatz's European command, United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF), consisting of the 8AF and 15AF, and the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF) and its Twentieth Air Force (20AF).[5]

The

Operation Pointblank
.

The

Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force
on 14 April 1944.

Planning to reorganize for a separate and independent postwar U.S. Air Force had begun by the fall of 1945, with the

Establishment and transfer to USAF

rocket-assisted take off
(RATO) on 15 April 1954

Strategic Air Command was originally established in the

Andrews AFB), Maryland as a tenant activity until assuming control of Andrews Field in October 1946.[9]

SAC initially totaled 37,000 USAAF personnel.[10] In addition to Bolling Field and, seven months later, Andrews Field, SAC also assumed responsibility for:

  • Walker AFB
    ), then home of the USAAF's sole nuclear-capable bomb wing, and
  • Schilling AFB
    )

SAC also had seven additional CAF bases transferred on 21 March 1946 which remained in SAC through the 1947 establishment of the U.S. Air Force as an independent service. Those installations included:

On 31 March 1946, the following additional installation was also assigned to SAC:

Under the first SAC

73d Air Division
.

263rd Army Air Force Base Unit—with SAC's radar detachments—transferred the same date directly under HQ SAC [11]
), while the IX Troop Carrier Command was inactivated the same date and its assets redistributed within SAC.

With postwar demobilization still underway, eight of the ten assigned bomb groups were inactivated before the Eighth Air Force was assigned to SAC on 7 June 1946[12]

Despite the pressures of demobilization, SAC continued the training and evaluation of bomber crews and units still on active duty in the postwar Army Air Forces. Radar Bomb Scoring became the preferred method of evaluating bomber crews, with the last of 888 simulated bomb runs scored against a bombing site near San Diego, California during 1946, subsequently increasing to 2,449 bomb runs by 1947.[13][11] In the wake of the successful employment of air-dropped nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki to effectively end World War II, SAC became the focus of the nation's nuclear strike capability, to the extent that Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Publication 1259/27 on 12 December 1946 identified that, "...the 'air atomic' strategic air force should only come under the orders of the JCS."[5]

In addition to the strategic bombing mission, SAC also devoted significant resources to aerial reconnaissance. In 1946, SAC's reconnaissance aircraft inventory consisted of F-2 photo variants of the

MiG-15 jet fighter.[14] Project Nanook, the Cold War's first Top Secret reconnaissance effort, used the first RB-29 missions for mapping and visual reconnaissance in the Arctic and along the northern Soviet coast. Later missions were Project LEOPARD along the Chukchi Peninsula, followed by Projects RICKRACK, STONEWORK, and COVERALLS.[15]

In 1946, the US possessed only nine atomic bombs and twenty-seven

B-29s capable at any one time of delivering them.[16] Furthermore, it was later determined that an attack by the 509th Composite Bomb Group during the 1947 to 1948 time frame would have required at least five to six days just to transfer custody of the bombs from United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sites to SAC and deploy the aircraft and weapons to forward operating bases before launching nuclear strikes.[17][18]

Postwar budget and personnel cuts had an insidious effect on SAC as its Deputy Commander, Major General Clements McMullen, implemented mandated force reductions. This continued to wear down SAC as a command and morale plummeted. As a result, by the end of 1947, only two of SAC's eleven groups were combat ready.[5] After the 1948 Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, the "Half Moon" Joint Emergency War Plan developed in May 1948[19] proposed dropping 50 atomic bombs on twenty Soviet cities,[16]: 68  with President Harry S. Truman approving "Half Moon" during the June 1948 Berlin Blockade,[16]: 68–9  (Truman sent B-29s to Europe in July).[20] SAC also ordered special ELINT RB-29s to detect improved Soviet radars and, in cooperation with the 51st Air Force Base Unit, SAC also monitored radioactive fallout from Soviet atomic testing on Novaya Zemlya.

In terms of overall Air Force basing and infrastructure, SAC continued to acquire an ever-increasing share of USAF infrastructure and the USAF associated budget. In 1947, before the USAF was established as an independent service, construction commenced on

Wendover AFB) were also transferred to SAC between 30 April and 1 September 1947. Following the establishment of the USAF as a separate service, SAC bases in the United States consisted of:[21]

Those bases subsequently added to SAC in the United States included:[21]

In addition to bases under its operational control, SAC also maintained tenant wings at several bases under the control of other USAF MAJCOMs. These non-SAC bases with SAC tenants included:

  • Amarillo AFB, Texas
  • Eglin AFB
    , Florida
  • Lowry AFB
    , Colorado
  • Mather AFB
    , California
  • Robins AFB
    , Georgia
  • Seymour Johnson AFB
    , North Carolina
  • Sheppard AFB
    , Texas
  • Wright-Patterson AFB
    , Ohio

SAC also often maintained a tenant presence at former SAC bases that the command subsequently transferred and relinquished to other MAJCOMs, to include but not limited to:

  • Altus AFB
    , Oklahoma
  • Laughlin AFB
    , Texas
  • MacDill AFB
    , Florida
  • Homestead AFB
    , Florida
  • Travis AFB
    , California

Run-up to Korea and start of the Cold War

The RB-29 "Kee Bird" made an emergency landing in Greenland after a secret 1947 mission.
Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker
, AF Ser. No. 52-2225, circa 1955, showing "Six turnin', four burnin'".
Castle AFB
after the 1957 fastest round-the-world flight.

SAC transferred to the United States Air Force on 26 September 1947, concurrent with the latter's establishment as a separate military service. Units directly under SAC HQ included the 8AF and 15AF, as well as the

311th Reconnaissance Wing and the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron.[24] The 56th Fighter Wing
was subsequently assigned to SAC on 1 October 1947.

Following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force, most SAC installations on U.S. territory were renamed as "Air Force Base" during late 1947 and into 1948, while non-U.S. installations were renamed as "Air Base".[25][26]

In May 1948, in an exercise versus

Lindbergh review of SAC operations in the air and at six SAC bases,[5] General Kenney was removed as Commanding General on 15 October 1948[28] and replaced on 19 October 1948 by 8AF's commander, Lieutenant General Curtis LeMay. Upon LeMay's assumption of command, SAC had only 60 nuclear-capable aircraft, none of which possessed a realistic long range capability against the Soviet Union.[29]

LeMay proposed that SAC should be able to deliver 80% of its weapons in one mission.

Kirtland AFB, New Mexico in September 1948.[33]

In November 1948, LeMay had SAC's headquarters and its command post moved from

F-84G Thunderjets
.

In January 1949, SAC conducted simulated raids on

Given its global operating environment, SAC also opened its own survival school at

Camp Carson, Colorado in 1949, later moving this school to Stead AFB, Nevada in 1952 before transferring the school to the Air Training Command in 1954.[23]

SAC also created Emergency War Plan 1–49 (EWP 1–49), which outlined the means for delivering 133 atomic bombs, "...the entire stockpile...in a single massive attack..." on 70 Soviet cities over a 30-day period.[35]

The first Soviet atomic bomb test occurred on 29 August 1949 and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) subsequently identified SAC's primary objective was to damage or destroy the Soviet Union's ability to deliver nuclear weapons. The JCS further defined SAC's secondary objective was to stop any Soviet advances into Western Europe, and its tertiary objective was the previous EWP 1–49 industrial mission.

Korean War

In July 1950, in response to combat operations on the Korean peninsula, SAC dispatched ten nuclear-capable bombers to

Guam and deployed four B-29 bomber wings in Korea for tactical operations, although this action caused SAC commander LeMay to comment "...too many splinters were being whittled off the [deterrence] stick".[29]

Initial SAC B-29 successes against North Korea in the summer of 1950 were countered by subsequent Soviet

Far East Air Forces (FEAF) Bomber Command for combat."[36] In 1951, LeMay convinced the Air Staff to allow SAC to approve nuclear targets,[37]: 18  and he continued refusing to submit war plans for JCS review, which the JCS eventually came to accept[37]: 37  (of 20,000 candidates in 1960, SAC designated 3,560 as bombing targets—mostly Soviet air defense: airfields and suspected missile sites.)[37]
: 60 

Although experimented with prior to World War II, SAC refined aerial refueling to a fine art. SAC's in-flight refueling mission began in July 1952 when its

Hickam AFB en route to Hawaii.[38]

On 15 March 1953, a

Hokkaido Island in northern Japan. By the time of 27 July 1953 Korean War cease-fire, SAC B-29s had flown over 21,000 sorties and dropped nearly 167,000 tons of bombs, with thirty-four B-29s lost in combat[39]
and forty-eight B-29s were lost to damage or crashes.

Cold War and massive retaliation

Vandenberg AFB
.
Strategic Air Command logo on a B-47 on display at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, Georgia

SAC's first jet strategic bomber was the

swept-wing B-47[40] medium bomber, which first entered service in 1951 and became operational within SAC in 1953. The B-47 was a component of the October 1953 New Look strategy, which articulated, in part, that: "...to minimize the threat[41]...the major purpose of air defense was not to shoot down enemy bombers—it was to allow SAC[27]...to get into the air[--and] not be destroyed on the ground[--to allow] massive retaliation.".[42]

Concern of a

Soviet Aviation Day and the Soviets rejected the "Open Skies" Treaty proposed at the Geneva Summit on 21 July 1955. US bomber strength peaked with "over 2,500 bombers" after production "of over 2,000 B-47s and almost 750 B-52s" (circa 1956, 50% of SAC aircraft & 80% of SAC bombers were B-47s).[9]
: 104 

In an effort to concurrently enhance it reconnaissance capabilities, SAC also received several

Turner AFB, Georgia.[43] In 1957, these aircraft were forward deployed to Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, in order to conduct reconnaissance missions along the borders of the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations. However, an unintended consequence of this deployment was that Hawker Hunter fighters of the Royal Air Force stationed in the United Kingdom and in continental Europe often intercepted these classified RB-57 missions as they returned to Rhein-Main AB from over the Baltic.[43]

Since it was designed as a medium bomber, SAC's

numbered air force permanently stationed in Europe, having tactical and administrative control of the forward-deployed aircraft and units.[32]

Beginning in 1955, SAC also moved a portion of its bomber and aerial refueling aircraft to 24-hour alert status, either on the ground or airborne. By 1960, fully one third of SAC's bombers and aerial refueling aircraft were on 24-hour alert, with those crews and aircraft not already airborne ready to take off from designated alert sites at their respective bases within fifteen minutes. Bomber aircraft on ground alert were armed with nuclear weapons while aerial tanker aircraft were sufficiently fueled to provide maximum combat fuel offload to the bombers.[44]

Concurrent with this increased alert posture and in order to better hone strategic bombing skillsets, the 1955

SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition was characterized by radar bomb scoring (RBS) runs on Amarillo, Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, San Antonio[45] and Phoenix;[46] and the 1957 competition (nicknamed "Operation Longshot")[47] had three targets: Atlanta, Kansas City, and St. Louis.[48] This use of RBS with simulated target areas utilizing mobile and fixed bomb scoring sites adjacent to major cities, industrial areas, military installations and dedicated bombing ranges throughout the United States. This format would continue through successive SAC Bombing and Navigation Competitions through the remainder of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Commencing in the late 1950s, in addition to representation from every SAC wing with a bombing and/or air refueling mission, later SAC competitions would also include participating bomber and aerial refueling units from the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command and (after 30 April 1968) its successor, RAF Strike Command
.

Nuclear Bunkers, SAC Ground Alert, and transfer of SAC's Fighter-Escort Wings

Strategic Air Command Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter visiting Strategic Air Command's Headquarters.

It was described as the "Western Pentagon," specifically a, "...four-story, reinforced concrete and masonry office building..." above ground and a "...segregated, adjacent three-story below ground command post." This was the description of what would become Building 500 at

nuclear bunker had 24-inch thick walls and base floor, 10-inch thick intermediate floors, and 24-to-42-inch thick roof. It also contained a war room with six 16-foot data display screens and the capacity to sustain up to 800 people underground for two weeks.[20] The below ground bunker portion of the headquarters complex also contained an IBM 704 computer, which was used to develop monthly weather forecasts at targets, as well as for computing fuel consumption and fallout cloud patterns for planning strike routes and egress routes (e.g., determining the timing as to which targets to bomb first).[49]

In 1957, SAC also constructed

Barksdale AFB
, Louisiana.

Despite this investment in "hardened" headquarters and command and control facilities, the 1957 Gaither Commission identified, "...little likelihood of SAC's bombers surviving [a Soviet first strike] since there was no way to detect an incoming attack until the first [Soviet nuclear weapon] warhead landed."[51] As a result, SAC's bombers and tankers began sitting armed ground alert at their respective bases on 1 Oct 57.[52]

In another organizational change during this time period, SAC's fighter escort wings were transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC) during 1957 and 1958.[53] Finally, during January 1958's Exercise Fir Fly, SAC "faker" aircraft (twelve B-47s) simulated bombing strikes against metropolitan areas and military installations in the United States defended by Air Defense Command's 28th Air Division.[54]

Nuclear missiles, aircrew readiness, airborne alert, and strategic reconnaissance

launch complex at Minot Air Force Base
, North Dakota
Thor missiles having been transferred to SAC for alert in 1958.[56]

Beginning on 1 February 1958, a SAC Liaison Team was also located at the

Minuteman I ICBMs via civilian railroad tracks on USAF-operated locomotives and trains
.

President Eisenhower approved the first

Atlas ICBM launch by a SAC crew for 9 September 1959 at Vandenberg AFB.[57]

While missile operations continued to ramp up, robust training for flight crews to ensure survivability for strike missions also continued. In some instances SAC bombers would oppose ADC fighter-interceptors simulating Soviet interceptors. Conversely, SAC assisted ADC readiness by simulating Soviet bomber threats to the continental United States that ADC fighters would respond to. However, following a mid-air collision between an ADC

B-47 during a 17 December 1959 Quick Kick exercise, simulated NORAD fighter attacks were prohibited against SAC bombers.[58]
: 63 

On 18 March 1960, SAC intercontinental missiles began alert at Maine's

Titan I Missile Complex 1A
in Colorado being placed on alert that June.

Beginning in November 1959, in order to counter Soviet

Emergency War Order (EWO) required the first aircraft to be airborne within 8 minutes and all aircraft to be airborne within 15 minutes after notification.[60]

During the mid-1950s, having recalled numerous World War II USAAF and Korean War USAF combat veteran pilots, navigators, bombardiers and aircrewmen from inactive reserve status back to various lengths of active duty, SAC took the lead in integrating the Air Force's reserve components into the overall SAC structure. By the beginning of the 1960s, SAC had also engineered the assignment of

KC-97 Stratofreighter aerial refueling aircraft to Air National Guard
groups and wings and having them fall under SAC's operational claimancy.

On 11 August 1960, President Eisenhower approved the creation of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS), co-located at SAC headquarters at

SIOP, and the National Strategic Target List for nuclear war.[37]
: 62 

On 1 July 1960, a SAC RB-47 with a six-man crew was

Lubyanka Prison in Moscow for seven months.[62]

On 3 February 1961, SAC's

Airborne Command Post for the Nuclear Triad and the Post-Attack Command and Control System. From this date and for the next 29+12 years, until 24 July 1990, SAC would maintain at least one Looking Glass aircraft continuously aloft 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with an embarked SAC general officer and battle staff, ready to assume command of all strategic nuclear strike forces in the event that SAC headquarters was destroyed in a Soviet first strike.[64]

SAC's airborne alerts during this period also included Operation Chrome Dome for the bomber and tanker force. Although ostensibly a peacetime mission, Chrome Dome placed heavy demands on flight crews and five B-52 aircraft were lost to airborne mishaps during the operation's eight-year period.

EC-135 Looking Glass aircraft
B-58A Hustler supersonic bomber

On 11 May 1961, SAC took delivery of its first

Bunker Hill AFB. Optimized for high-altitude, high-speed penetration into Soviet territory prior to Soviet advancements in high-altitude surface-to-air missiles, the B-58 was expensive to operate and inefficient at lower altitudes. Its service in SAC would be comparatively short, eventually being replaced by the FB-111 by 1970.

An air-to-air front overhead view of two FB-111As in formation
An overhead view of two SAC
FB-111As in formation

After an early 1961 development by SAC of a Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) field kit for use in the

KC-135 refueling a B-52D in 1965, the year the last KC-135 was delivered to SAC.[68]
B-52D dropping bombs over Vietnam, circa 1970.

In 1961, following the

increased tensions SAC kept some B-52 airborne in the event of a surprise attack.[69]

In 1962, SAC gained full control of the various "Q Areas" developed by

Sandia Laboratories for nuclear weapon storage adjacent to Loring AFB (Site E (Maine)/Caribou AFS), Ellsworth AFB (Site F (South Dakota)/Rushmore AFS), Fairchild AFB (Site G (Washington)/Deep Creek AFS), Travis AFB (Site H (California)/Fairfield AFS), and Westover AFB (Site I (Massachusetts)/Stony Brook AFS). These adjunct sites were subsequently converted to USAF-operated and maintained weapon storage areas (WSAs) in the same manner as WSAs on other SAC bases.[20]

The solid fuel

LGM-30F Minuteman II
replaced Minuteman I in 1965).

In October 1962, an SAC BRASS KNOB mission U-2 piloted by Major

SA-2 Guideline missile, killing the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson.[63]

Throughout the early 1960s, the Kennedy Administration, under the aegis of Secretary of Defense McNamara, cancelled numerous SAC modernization programs. This included the Mach 3

KC-135 Stratotanker, had reached sufficient inventory numbers to allow SAC to begin divestiture of its KC-97 Stratofreighter tankers, transferring them to SAC-gained Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units. As the KC-135 became the primary aerial tanker in active service, SAC employed the aircraft for several non-stop B-52 and KC-135 flights around the world, demonstrating that SAC no longer needed to depend on Reflex stations at air bases in Spain and Britain.)[29]
: 108 

SR-71 Blackbirds & U-2s deployed to the Vietnam War
and conducted "Lucky Dragon" surveillance along North Vietnam and China borders (later named "Trojan Horse", "Olympic Torch", "Senior Book", and "Giant Dragon").

Vietnam War and latter half of the Cold War

SAC's air war in Vietnam

After

Strategic Air Command Advanced Echelon (SACADVON)[71] was established as a "...liaison unit for CINCSAC [was] located at MACV Headquarters to assist with the B-52 effort."[72]

On 23 May 1965, SAC B-52Fs began unarmed missions for radar mapping "...and later to test bombing with the assistance of ground homing beacons..."[73] SAC began saturation bombing[74] on 18 June 1965[75] (8000 tons per month in 1966)[76] and conducted Operation Arc Light missions from 1965 until the end of hostilities involving U.S. forces in 1973.[77]

All B-52F missions in 1965 were against targets in

VC supply storage area [for which] part of the target box was in Laos."[78]: 121  In April 1966, Vietnam operations began with the B-52D model, a 1956 model designed to use the AGM-28 Hound Dog cruise missile and the ADM-20 Quail aerial decoys for low altitude operations and modified in late 1965 by Project Big Belly[79] to increase conventional bomb capacity.[32]

1st Air Cavalry Division.[78]: 186  The 1972 Operation Linebacker II also used Skyspot for Hanoi/Haiphong bombings in North Vietnam which resulted in the loss of 25 SAC aircrew members.[68]

By May 1967,[80] SACADVON had moved to Seventh Air Force headquarters[81] at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam to schedule and coordinate "...strikes for the 7th AF and MACV."[82] From a level of 161,921 military and 20,215 civilian assigned to SAC in June 1968, SAC lost 13,698 first term airmen from November 1968 to May 1969 in a three phase drawdown known as Project 693[75] to comply with Public Law 90-364.[83]

While conventional bombing, air refueling and strategic air reconnaissance operations in Southeast Asia increasingly occupied SAC's operational commitments, SAC's primary mission of nuclear deterrence continued to remain its primary focus. In 1969, "...SAC's B-52s and B-58s could carry B28, B41, B43, B53, and BA53 nuclear weapons" (SAC had 311 nuclear

FB-111
.

On 18 March 1969, along the South Vietnamese border, SAC first bombed Cambodia (

COMUSMACV.[72]

In 1970, SAC deployed the

B-58 Hustler
supersonic bomber.

1972 saw the commencement of

U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial bombing campaign, conducted against targets in North Vietnam during the final period of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Linebacker II was conducted from 18 to 29 December 1972, leading to several informal names such as "The December Raids" and "The Christmas Bombings". Unlike the previous Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Linebacker interdiction operations, Linebacker II would be a "maximum effort" bombing campaign to destroy major target complexes in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas which could only be accomplished by SAC B-52D/Gs. It saw the largest heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of World War II. Linebacker II was a modified extension of the Operation Linebacker bombings conducted from May to October 1972, with the emphasis of the new campaign shifted to attacks by B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers rather than smaller tactical fighter aircraft. During Linebacker II, a total of 741 B-52D/G sorties were dispatched from bases in Thailand and Guam to bomb North Vietnam and 729 actually completed their missions.[84] Overall SAC losses during Linebacker II numbered fifteen B-52s. The U.S. government claimed that the operation had succeeded in forcing North Vietnam's Politburo to return to the negotiating table, with the Paris Peace Accords
signed shortly after the operation.

By early 1973, offensive SAC air operations in Southeast Asia ceased and numerous SAC aircrewmen who had been shot down and captured as prisoners of war by North Vietnam were repatriated to the United States.

SAC aircraft used during the

.

Post-Vietnam, 1970s budget cuts, 1980s renewal, and the Cold War redux

During the Vietnam War, due to the escalating costs of combat operations in Southeast Asia, SAC was required to close several SAC bases, consolidate other bases, or transfer several bases to other MAJCOMs, other services, or the Air Reserve Component in order to remain within budgetary constraints. This included:

With the Vietnam War draw-down following the Paris Peace Treaty in 1973, reduced defense budgets forced SAC to inactivate several more wings, close still more bases in CONUS and Puerto Rico, transfer still additional bases to other MAJCOMS or the Air Reserve Component, and retire older B-52B, B-52C, B-52E and B-52F aircraft:

In 1973, the

Offutt AFB and were forward deployed as necessary to support the National Command Authority
.

Cover of a 1975 SAC information booklet emphasizing its "Peace Is Our Profession" motto

By 1975, SAC's manned bomber strength included several hundred B-52D, B-52G, B-52H and FB-111A aircraft,[39] and "...SAC's first major exercise in 23 years" was Exercise Global Shield 79.[85] As for the ICBM force, SAC reached a peak strength of 1000 Minuteman II and III and 54 Titan II ICBMs on active status before seeing reductions and retirements through a combination of obsolescing systems and various arms reduction treaties with the Soviet Union.[86]

By 1977, SAC had been pinning its hopes for a new manned strategic bomber in the form of the

Rockwell B-1A Lancer. However, on 30 June 1977, President Jimmy Carter
Carter announced that the B-1A would be canceled in favor of ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and a fleet of modernized B-52s armed with air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs).

On 1 December 1979, SAC assumed control of the

Air Force Space Command
(AFSPC) when the latter was established in 1982. SAC also continued to operate the Air Force's entire KC-135 aerial refueling fleet, its EC-135 LOOKING GLASS and E-4 NEACAP command post aircraft, as well the entire strategic reconnaissance aircraft fleet consisting of the U-2, SR-71, RC-135, and WC-135.

In 1981, SAC received a new air refueling tanker aircraft to supplement the aging

KC-10A Extender was deployed equipped with improved military avionics, aerial refueling, and satellite communications equipment.[68] That same year, President Ronald Reagan
reversed the 1977 Carter administration decision regarding the B-1, directing that 100 examples of a refined version of the aircraft, now designated the B-1B Lancer, be procured as a long-range combat aircraft for SAC.

The

Rockwell B-1B Lancer was also delivered to SAC in 1987.[32]

On 22 November 1988, the

stealth bomber
" designed for SAC, the aircraft made its first flight in May 1989.

End of the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm

SAC reorganization at the end of the Cold War began as early as 1988 when the Carlucci Commission planned the closure of:

  • AFRES
    KC-135A air refueling group; and
  • Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, a SAC base with an FB-111A and KC-135E bomb wing and a SAC-gained ANG
    KC-135A air refueling wing

The closures were the beginning of a post-Cold War process that would later become known as

Beale AFB when another BRAC
process would close McClellan AFB.

Concurrently, the Pease AFB bomber/tanker wing would lose its FB-111 aircraft and transfer to

B-2 Spirit while a portion of Pease would be transferred to the New Hampshire Air National Guard for its ANG KC-135 air refueling wing and be renamed Pease Air National Guard Base
.

Additional closures and divestments of SAC bases would continue throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, accelerating even more so as a result the

ICBMs, as well as the 1992 reorganization of the Air Force that disestablished SAC and dispersed its assets to other new or existing MAJCOMs, primarily ACC and AMC. In addition to closures of Mather AFB and Pease AFB, this would eventually include the following subsequent closure and realignment actions, primarily due to BRAC:

On 1 July 1989, the

Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invasion and occupation, SAC bomber, tanker and reconnaissance aircraft flew operations (e.g., B-52s with conventional bombs and conventional warhead AGM-86 ALCMs) near Iraq from bases in Great Britain, Turkey, Cyprus, Diego Garcia
, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Following Operation Desert Storm, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the de facto end of the Cold War, President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney directed SAC to take all bomber and refueling aircraft and Minuteman II ICBMs off of continuous nuclear alert on 27 September 1991[88] and placing said aircraft on quick reaction ground alert.[89]

The 31 May 1992 major reorganization of the USAF organizational structure subsequently disestablished SAC, moving its bomber, reconnaissance and aerial command post aircraft and all SAC ICBMs, along with all

USAFE and PACAF, with one additional air refueling wing assigned to the Air Education and Training Command
(AETC) as the KC-135 formal training unit.

Land-based ICBMs were later transferred from ACC to

USSTRATCOM
), which took over the SAC Headquarters complex at Offutt AFB.

In 2009, the entire land-based USAF ICBM force and that portion of the USAF manned bomber force that was still nuclear-capable, e.g., the

B-1 Lancer conventional bomber force remained in ACC. In 2015, these B-1 units were also transferred to Air Force Global Strike Command, which assumed responsibility for all current and future USAF bomber forces.[90]

Commemoration and new commands

The SAC Museum located adjacent to Offutt AFB was moved in 1998[91] to a site near Ashland, Nebraska and renamed as the Strategic Air and Space Museum in 2001.

Organizations commemorating SAC include the Strategic Air Command Veterans Association, the SAC Society, the B-47 Stratojet Association, the B-52 Stratofortress Association, the FB-111 Association, the SAC Airborne Command Control Association, the Association of Air Force Missileers, the SAC Elite Guard Association[92] and the Strategic Air Command Memorial Amateur Radio Club.[93] After the Cold War, SAC histories included a 1990 almanac and a 2006 organizational history.[94]

In 2009, the

USSTRATCOM). AFGSC currently consists of Eighth Air Force (8AF), responsible for the nuclear-capable manned heavy bomber force, and Twentieth Air Force
(20AF), responsible for the ICBM force.

Lineage

Redesignated: Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946[96]
Components
Overseas components

16th Air Force
at air bases in North Africa, Spain and Turkey during the 1950s and 1960s.

SAC also maintained bomber, tanker, and/or reconnaissance aircraft assets at the former

NAS Keflavik
, Iceland through the 1990s.

SAC also conducted operations from

Desert Storm) from 1990 to 1991.[98]

See also

References

  1. ^ Williams, Clifton (27 August 2014). "Strategic Air Command March". Spotify. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  2. .
  3. ^ "Alliant Techsystems Names Blalock to Head New Colorado Springs Field Marketing Office" (news release). ATK.com. 9 December 1997. Retrieved 8 September 2013. Chief, Missile Concept Division, Headquarters, Strategic Air Command
  4. ^ "Fact Sheet: Air Force Global Strike Command". afhra.af.mil. 17 July 2009. Archived from the original (news release) on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  5. ^
    Charles A. Lindbergh
    to inspect six SAC bases. Lindbergh spent more than one thousand hours in the air with SAC crews. His September 1948 report cited low standards of professionalism, poor morale, low proficiency, personnel disruptions, and command training policies that "seriously interfered with training in the primary mission of the atomic squadrons."5
  6. .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4379-2131-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2013. In November 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower became Army Chief of Staff. One of General Eisenhower's first actions was to appoint a board of officers, headed by Lieutenant General W. H. Simpson
    , to prepare a definitive plan for the reorganization of the Army and the Air Force that could be effected without enabling legislation and would provide for the separation of the Air Force from the Army.
  8. ^ History of Strategic Air Command: Chapter III Operations and Training (Report). Vol. Historical Study No. 61. Historical Division, SAC Office of Information. c. 1957. Archived from the original (partial transcript at AlternateWars.com) on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013. Following are the bases assigned on 21 March:
    • Abilene Army Air Field
      , Texas
    • Alamogordo Army Air Field
      , New Mexico
    • Andrews Field
      , Maryland
    • Arlington Auxiliary #4
    • Avon Park Army Air Field
      , Florida
    • Bolling Field
      , Washington, D. C. ,
    • Caddo Mills Auxiliary #1
    • Cash, Texas, Auxiliary #2
    • Castle Field
      , California
    • Center Auxiliary #2, Parma, New Mexico
    • Chico Army Air Field
      , California
    • Clovis Army Air Field
      , New Mexico
    • Davis-Monthan Field
      , Arizona
    • Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico
    • Dow Field
      , Maine
    • Fairmont Army Air Field
      , Nebraska (sub-base of Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska)
    • Fort Sumner Army Airfield
      , New Mexico
    • Fort Worth Army Air Field
      , Texas
    • Geiger Field
      , Washington
    • Gowen Army Air Field, Idaho
    • Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska
    • Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas
    • Greensboro-Highpoint Army Air Field, North Carolina
    • Greensboro Oversea Replacement Depot (ORD), North Carolina
    • Grenier Army Air Field, New Hampshire
    • Harvard Army Air Field
      , Nebraska
    • Headquarters Area
      , Colorado Springs, Colorado
    • Kearney Army Air Field
      , Nebraska
    • Kearns Oversea Replacement Depot (ORD), Utah
    • Kirtland Army Air Field
      , New Mexico
    • La Junta Army Air Field
      , Colorado
    • Las Animas Auxiliary #2, Colorado
    • MacDill Army Air Field, Tampa, Florida
    • Majors Field
      , Texas
    • McCook Army Air Field, Nebraska
    • Mountain Home Army Air Field
      , Idaho
    • Oscoda Army Air Field
      , Michigan
    • Peterson Field
      , Colorado
    • Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas
    • Pueblo Army Air Base
      , Colorado
    • Rapid City Army Air Field
      , South Dakota
    • Richmond Army Air Base
      , Virginia
    • Rocky Ford Auxiliary #1, Colorado
    • Roswell Army Air Base, New Mexico
    • Roswell Auxiliary #3, New Mexico,
    • Salt Lake City Army Air Field
      , Utah
    • Selfridge Army Air Field, Michigan
    • Seymour-Johnson Field, North Carolina
    • Sioux City Army Air Field, Iowa
    • Sioux Falls Army Air Field
      , South Dakota
    • Smoky Hill Army Air Field
      , Salina, Kansas
    • South Auxiliary #1, Deming, New Mexico
    • South Sulphur Auxiliary #3, Texas
    • Tonopah Army Air Field
      , Nevada
    • Walla Walla Army Air Field
      , Washington.
  9. ^ a b Boyne, Walter J (1997), Beyond The Wild Blue: A History of the United States Air Force 1947–1997, New York: St. Martin's Press
  10. ^ Adams, Chris (2005). Inside The Cold War; A Cold Warrior's Reflections (Report) (3rd printing ed.). Air University Press. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Horstead, Terry L. (9 November 1983). Historical Summary: Radar Bomb Scoring, 1945–1983 (PDF) (Report). Barksdale AFB, Louisiana: Office of History, 1st Combat Evaluation Group. Retrieved 29 March 2022. With the activation of the 8th Air Force the demand for radar bomb scoring training increased greatly. The 263rd was relieved from assignment to 15th Air Force and assigned directly to Headquarters Strategic Air Command.
  12. ^ Broyhill, Marvin T. "SAC History: This section is still under development". Strategic-Air-Command.com. Retrieved 31 August 2013. Startup – 1944 – 1946. SAC is formed. Assigned 15th Air Force. First 10 Bomb Groups. 8 inactivated.
  13. ^ Herring, G. B. (Jr.) (19 May 1966). "TBD". Laurel Leader Call. Laurel, Mississippi. Retrieved 11 July 2012. Radar bomb scoring began in 1946 with 888 bomb releases for the year against a site in the[verification needed] San Diego
  14. .
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    .
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  19. ^ "Half Moon". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  20. ^
    French Morocco
    , in early December 1951, completing their 5,000-mile training flight from Carswell Air Force Base ... SAC built approximately 50 to 60 of its second generation bomber maintenance hangars at approximately 46 Air Force installations in the U.S. and internationally between 1952 and 1955
  21. ^ . Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  22. ^ "Patrick AFB - Cape Canaveral Air Base". strategic-air-command.com. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  23. ^
    Geiger Field transferred to Strategic Air Command as of 15 September. [ATC also] transferred a Geiger subpost, Fort George E. Wright, to Strategic Air Command on 16 July. (the fort had SAC's RBS Detachment D
    by 1950.)
  24. ^ Strategic Air Command (organizational chart), Fall 1947, Accessed 2013-08-14 (published in Mixer, Ronald E (1999). The Genealogy of the Strategic Air Command. Battermix.)
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    Taegu AB, South Korea. Less than two months later, fearful that Chinese ground forces would overrun United Nations jet bases in South Korea, Fifth Air Force withdrew the 27th FEW to Japan. The wing continued combat operations from Japan until the 136th FBW replaced it in late June 1951.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
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  48. ^ Haugland, Vern (31 October 1957). "90 SAC Planes to H-Bomb 3 Target Cities Off Map". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
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  53. ^ Boyd, Robert J (1988). SAC's fighter planes and their operations. Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command (Supt. of Docs, U.S. G.P.O.).
  54. ^ a b Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 November 1959). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1959 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
  55. ^ Clark, Major Rita F. (1 May 1990). SAC Missile Chronology 1939–1988 (PDF) (Report). Office of the Historian, HQ. SAC, Offutt AFB. Retrieved 26 September 2013. Creation of the new command was achieved by redesignating Headquarters Continental Air Forces ... 1958...1 January Headquarters SAC established the Office of Assistant CINCSAC (SAC MIKE) at Inglewood, California. This position was designated to serve as an extension of Headquarters SAC and was responsible for working closely with the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division ... 1958...17 June The Air Force accepted delivery of the first Titan I ICBM from the Martin Company, formerly the Glenn L Martin Aircraft Company. ... 1959...8 June First SAC launch of a Quail missile. The launch took place over the Eglin Gulf Test Range. ... 1961...4 August Work was completed on all three Titan I ICBM complexes at the 724th Strategic Missile Squadron, Lowry AFB, Colorado, and they were turned over to the Strategic Air Command by the Army Corps of Engineers. ... 1961 ... 7 December Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara canceled the Mobile Minuteman development program. ... 1966 ... 1 July Headquarters SAC organized a special agency, Ballistic Missile Evaluation (BME), to evaluate and make formal reports to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the reliability and capability of the various SAC ICBM weapon systems. ... 1966...3–7 April The Strategic Air Command conducted its first missile combat competition. ... 17 April The first attempted launch of a Minuteman II ICBM by means of the Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) ... 1969 ... 29 July The first flight-test of the SRAM was successful. The missile, launched from a B-52H, flew down the White Sands Missile Range and impacted in the target area. ... 1973 ... 9 January Operational testing and Evaluation (OT&E, nicknamed Bullet Blitz) of the SRAM from B-52 aircraft began at Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
  56. ^ Condit, Kenneth W. (1992) [1971 classified vol]. "Chapter 4: The Weapons Revolution and Service Functions". The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy: 1955–1956 (Report). Vol. VI of History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Washington, DC: Historical Office, Joint Staff. (Condit's footnote 41 on p. 294 cites:
    JCS Hist Div, Chronology of Significant Events and Decisions Relating to the U.S. Missile and Earth Satellite Development Programs (1957), p. 76 and passim. Semiannual Report of the Secretary of Defense, 1 Jan-30 Jun 58, pp. 283–284.)
  57. Secretary of Defense
    (9 September 1959), handwritten memorandum to the President (typewritten record at Eisenhower Archives with 6/19/79 date at top)
  58. Quick Kick
    ."
  59. ^ "Jet Bombers To Descend Near Alto For Series of Mock Air Attacks" (UniSv of Tennessee archives). The Cherokeean. Rusk, Texas. 28 December 1961. Retrieved 18 September 2013. Strategic Air Command will begin flying missions on 1 Jan. against simulated targets near Greenville, Miss. They will use a low-level entry point near Alto. ... Low level bombing and navigation training has been conducted against fixed sites under the code name "Oil Burner" since November 1959... The RBS train will carry about 65 Air Force personnel. ... The RBS Express...has 10 cars...consisting of existing U.S. Army stock from the Odgen General Depor
  60. ^ History of the Strategic Air Command, 1 January 1960 – 30 June 1960 (Report). Headquarters, Strategic Air Command. p. 135. (quotation and citation from Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning: Part 2)
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  62. ^ "Fact Sheets : RB-47H Shot Down : RB-47H Shot Down". Archived from the original on 29 October 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
  63. ^ . Retrieved 16 September 2013. Although LeMay had designated Deputy Commanders in other theaters (SACX-Ray, Zebra, Victor, Yoke, and Oboe) ... [Looking Glass] has authority when the National Command Authority is no longer there to push the button."63 ... SAC released balloons equipped with cameras in Norway, England, and Turkey, and retrieved them off the coast of Japan and Alaska... By presidential decree on 8 September 1955, Eisenhower announced that the ICBM would become America's chief focus in terms of the military arsenal.94
  64. ^ a b Pike, John (24 July 2011). "Strategic Air Command". Global Security. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
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Further reading

External links

External media
Images
image icon Image sequence for Titan II launch
Video
video icon First Titan II silo launch
video icon High Strategy
video icon Power of Decision
video icon Semiannual Film Report
video icon SAC Command Post
video icon The Strength of SAC
video icon The Global Shield
video icon Modern Marvels film