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By Matthew Olay DOD News
The Air Force is working to meet the challenge of maintaining mission readiness for bomber and land-based missile legs of the nation's nuclear triad, while at the same time working to meet the government-mandated recapitalization of both those platforms.
That was one of the central messages Air Force Global Strike Command's most senior leader, Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, shared during an interview this morning at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
"The world is more dangerous now than it's been in my [entire] career," said Bussiere. "Coupled with that, we now have the recapitalization of the entire nuclear triad. So, the challenge ahead is … maintaining our current strategic deterrence posture while we field new capabilities."
"And we have to maintain full operational capability while we do that," he continued.
Composed of land-based intercontinental ballistic missile wings and strategic bombers that both fall under the Air Force's authority — as well as multiple submarine-launched ballistic missiles that are the responsibility of the Navy — the nuclear triad exists to provide around-the-clock deterrence to prevent catastrophic actions from U.S. adversaries.
The recapitalization of the nuclear triad seeks to upgrade the Navy's fleet with the new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine; to deliver new bomber capabilities, such as the B-21 Raider; and replace the aging Minuteman III ICBM with the new Sentinel.
"A lot of folks will look at the strategic triad and go, 'Why are we doing this? We're never going to use it,'" Bussiere said. "[In truth], we use it every day," he added, emphasizing the importance of keeping the triad fully mission capable.
While noting that maintaining full operational capability of a force structure like the nuclear triad during a full recapitalization is something that's never been done, Bussiere said that maintaining such a balancing act is all thanks to the men, women and institutions that work hard to accomplish the mission.
"[It's] a testament to our airmen; a testament to our families that support our airmen [and] it's a testament to the communities around our installations that support our airmen and their families," Bussiere said.
He added that the Air Force, the Defense Department and senior leaders in Congress have also been very supportive of AFGSC's mission to operate and participate in the modernization of the nuclear triad.