View source for Strategic Air Command

{{Short description|1946–1992 US Air Force major command}}
{{For-multi|the film|Strategic Air Command (film)|the command from 2009|Air Force Global Strike Command}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2026}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Strategic Air Command
| image = SAC_Shield.svg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Shield of Strategic Air Command
| dates = 1947–1992: [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]]<br />{{nowrap|1946–1947: [[United States Army Air Forces|US Army Air Forces]]}}
| country = {{flagu|United States|size=23px}}
| branch = {{air force|United States|size=23px}}
| type = Major Command / Specified Command
| garrison = 9 November 1948: [[Offutt Air Force Base]], [[Nebraska]]<br />{{nowrap | 21 October 1946: [[Andrews Field]], Maryland}}<br />21 March 1946: [[Bolling Field]], District of Columbia
| role = 
| size = 
| command_structure = 
| current_commander = 
| notable_commanders = Gen [[Curtis LeMay]]<br/>Gen [[John Dale Ryan]]
| ceremonial_chief = 
| nickname = 
| patron = 
| motto = "Peace is Our Profession"
| colors = 
| march = "Strategic Air Command March"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Clifton|date=2014-08-27|title=Strategic Air Command March|url= https://open.spotify.com/track/4r35EMAPRMPeJGxxZLenaz|access-date=2022-01-25|website=[[Spotify]]|language=en-US}}</ref>
| mascot = 
| battles = 
| anniversaries = <!-- Insignia -->
| identification_symbol = [[File:SAC_Shield_OD.svg|200px]]
| identification_symbol_label = Shield (subdued)
}}

'''Strategic Air Command''' ('''SAC''') was a [[Cold War]]-era [[United States Department of Defense]] Specified Command and a [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM) responsible for command and control of the [[strategic bomber]] and [[intercontinental ballistic missile]] (ICBM) components of the United States military's [[strategic nuclear weapon|strategic nuclear forces]]<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=Osprey |year=1973 |page=232}}</ref> from 1946 to 1992, active for most of the Cold War. 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,<ref>{{cite web |date=9 December 1997 |title=Alliant Techsystems Names Blalock to Head New Colorado Springs Field Marketing Office |work=ATK |url=http://www.atk.com/news-releases/alliant-techsystems-names-blalock-to-head-new-colorado-springs-field-marketing-office/ |format=news release |publisher=ATK.com |access-date=2013-09-08 |quote=Chief, Missile Concept Division, Headquarters, Strategic Air Command}}</ref> and Strategic Communications. At the height of the Cold War in 1983, SAC controlled a total of 37 different wings. It operated 1,000 [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman]] II and III ICBMs, 48 [[LGM-25C Titan II]] ICBMs, 316 [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52 Stratofortress]] strategic bombers, 56 [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark|FB-111 Aardvark]] fighter-bombers. Supporting these, SAC operated 615 [[Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker|KC-135 Stratotanker]] [[Aerial refueling|refuelers]], alongside 14 [[Boeing EC-135|EC-135 'Looking Glass']] and several [[Boeing E-4|E-4 'Nightwatch']] command and control aircraft, the latter of which supported [[continuity of government]]. Reconnaissance aircraft included the [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71 Blackbird]], [[Lockheed U-2|U-2 'Dragon Lady']], and [[Boeing RC-135|RC-135]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1983 |title=Strategic Air Command |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/app/uploads/2024/09/AFmag_1983_05.pdf |journal=Air Force Magazine |language=English |publication-date=May 1983 |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=99, 100}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Young |first=Susan H. H. |date=May 1983 |title=Gallery of USAF Weapons |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/app/uploads/2024/09/AFmag_1983_05.pdf |journal=Air Force Magazine |language=English |publication-date=May 1983 |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=147, 148, 150, 158}}</ref>

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 [[MAJCOM]]. Its [[:Category:Personnel of Strategic Air Command|personnel]] and [[Strategic Air Command equipment|equipment]] redistributed among the [[Air Combat Command]] (ACC), [[Air Mobility Command]] (AMC), [[Pacific Air Forces]] (PACAF), [[United States Air Forces in Europe]] (USAFE), and [[Air Education and Training Command]] (AETC), while SAC's central headquarters complex at [[Offutt AFB]], Nebraska was concurrently transferred to the newly created [[United States Strategic Command]] (USSTRATCOM), which was established as a joint [[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, inheriting the role of its predecessor.<ref>{{cite web |date=17 July 2009 |title=Fact Sheet: Air Force Global Strike Command |url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15047 |format=news release |publisher=afhra.af.mil |access-date=2015-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718071848/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15047 |archive-date=18 July 2012 }}</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Sac194-patch.png|thumb|175px|right|The 1946–1951 SAC patch (above) was replaced by [[:File:SAC Shield.svg|the patch with insignia that won a SAC contest]].]]
The Strategic Air Forces of the United States during [[World War II]] included [[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).{{r|Worden}}

The [[U.S. Army Air Forces]]' first mission in the [[Combined Bomber Offensive|Strategic Bombing Campaign]] in the [[European Theater]] during World War II included the [[VIII Bomber Command]], [[List of air operations during the Battle of Europe|which conducted the first European "heavy bomber" attack by the USAAF on 17 August 1942]]; the [[Ninth Air Force]], which conducted the first [[Operation Crossbow]] "No-Ball" missions on 5 December 1943;<ref name=Zaloga>{{cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steven J. |orig-year=2007 |year=2008 |others= Johnson, Hugh & Taylor, Chris (Illustrations) |title=German V-Weapon Sites 1943–45 <!--|location=New York -->|publisher=Osprey Publishing Ltd |series=[[Fortress Study Group]] (72) |isbn=978-184603-247-9 |page=29}}</ref> the [[Twelfth Air Force]]; and the [[Fifteenth Air Force]], [[Bombing of Wiener Neustadt in World War II|which executed bombing operations on 2 November 1943]] during [[Operation Pointblank]].

The [[Combined Bomber Offensive#Overlord air plan|Operation Overlord air plan]] for the strategic bombing of both Germany and German military forces in continental Europe prior to the [[Operation Overlord|1944 invasion of France]] used several Air Forces, primarily those of the [[USAAF]] and those of the [[Royal Air Force]] ([[RAF]]), with the command of air operations transferring to 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 [[William Hood Simpson|Simpson Board]] tasked to plan, "...the reorganization of the Army and the Air Force...".{{r|Leonard}} In January 1946, Generals [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] and [[Carl Andrew Spaatz|Spaatz]] agreed on an Air Force organization composed of the Strategic Air Command, the [[Air Defense Command]], the [[Tactical Air Command]], the [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|Air Transport Command]] and the supporting [[Air Technical Service Command]], [[Air Education and Training Command|Air Training Command]], the [[Air University (United States Air Force)|Air University]], and the [[Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics#Lineage|Air Force Center]].<ref name=Leonard>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Barry |title=History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV2.pdf |volume=I, 1944–1955 |year=2009 |publisher=Center for Military History |location=Fort McNair |isbn=978-1-4379-2131-1 |page=47 |quote=In November 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower became Army Chief of Staff<!--, while General Carl Spaatz began to assume the duties of Commanding General, Army Air Forces, in anticipation of General Arnold’s announced retirement-->. One of General Eisenhower's first actions was to appoint a board of officers, headed by Lieutenant General [[William Hood Simpson|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. |access-date=15 August 2013 |archive-date=16 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216135402/https://history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Establishment and transfer to USAF ==
[[File:Boeing B-47B rocket-assisted take off on April 15, 1954 061024-F-1234S-011.jpg|thumb|right|[[Boeing B-47 Stratojet|Boeing B-47B Stratojet]] executing a [[rocket-assisted take off]] (RATO) on 15 April 1954]]

{{For|a list of the 32<!--55 minus the 15 and 8 after 21 March--> "airfields and installations" for which SAC assumed jurisdiction{{r|HS-61}} on 21 March 1946|List of Strategic Air Command bases{{!}}Strategic Air Command bases}}
'''Strategic Air Command''' was originally established in the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] on 21 March 1946 upon the redesignation of [[Continental Air Forces]] (CAF), the World War II command tasked with the air defense of the continental United States (CONUS).  At the time, CAF headquarters was located at [[Bolling Field]] (later [[Bolling AFB]]) in the District of Columbia and SAC assumed occupancy of its headquarters facilities until relocating SAC headquarters (HQ SAC) to nearby [[Andrews Field]] (later [[Andrews AFB]]), Maryland as a tenant activity until assuming control of Andrews Field in October 1946.{{r|Boyne}}<!--{{rp |29–30}}-->

SAC initially totaled 37,000 USAAF personnel.<ref>{{cite report |last=Adams |first=Chris |year=2005 |edition= 3rd printing |title= Inside The Cold War; A Cold Warrior's Reflections |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0WW6e0Xe9w4C&q=strategic+air+command |publisher=Air University Press |access-date= 2013-09-15}}</ref> In addition to Bolling Field and, seven months later, Andrews Field, SAC also assumed responsibility for:
* [[Walker Air Force Base|Roswell AAF]], New Mexico (later renamed Roswell AFB, then [[Walker AFB]]), then home of the USAAF's sole nuclear-capable bomb wing, and
* [[Schilling Air Force Base|Smoky Hill AAF]], Kansas (later renamed Smoky Hill AFB, then [[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:
* [[Castle Air Force Base|Castle Field]], California (later [[Castle Air Force Base]])
* [[Cannon Air Force Base|Clovis AAF]], New Mexico (later [[Cannon Air Force Base]])<!--to ATC on 1 April 1950-->
* [[Carswell Air Force Base|Fort Worth AAF]], Texas (later [[Carswell Air Force Base]])
* [[Davis-Monthan Air Force Base|Davis-Monthan Field]], Arizona (later [[Davis-Monthan Air Force Base]]) <!--to TAC on 1 Oct 1976-->
* [[Ellsworth Air Force Base|Rapid City AAF]], South Dakota (later [[Ellsworth Air Force Base]])
* [[MacDill Air Force Base|MacDill Field]], Florida (later [[MacDill Air Force Base]])
* [[Mountain Home Air Force Base|Mountain Home AAF]], Idaho (later [[Mountain Home Air Force Base]])

On 31 March 1946, the following additional installation was also assigned to SAC:
* [[Kirtland Air Force Base|Kirtland Field]], New Mexico (later [[Kirtland Air Force Base]])

Under the first SAC [[List of commanders-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command|Commander in Chief]], General [[George C. Kenney]], initial units reporting to the Strategic Air Command headquarters on 21 March 1946 included the [[Second Air Force]], the [[IX Troop Carrier Command]] and the [[73d Air Division]].

[[Fifteenth Air Force]] was assigned to SAC on 31 March (15th AF's [[263rd Army Air Force Base Unit]]—with [[:Category:Strategic Air Command radar stations|SAC's radar detachments]]—transferred the same date directly under HQ SAC {{r|Summary}}), 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Broyhill |first=Marvin T |title=SAC History: This section is still under development |url=http://www.strategic-air-command.com/history/history-00.htm |publisher=Strategic-Air-Command.com |access-date=2013-08-31 |quote=<u>'''Startup'''</u> – 1944 – 1946. SAC is formed. Assigned 15th Air Force. First 10 Bomb Groups. 8 inactivated.<!-- Then assigned 8th Air Force.-->}}</ref> 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 [[Radar Bomb Scoring|888 simulated bomb runs scored]] against a bombing site near [[San Diego]], California during 1946, subsequently increasing to 2,449 bomb runs by 1947.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Herring |first=G. B. (Jr.) |date=19 May 1966 |title=TBD |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/laurel-leader-call/1966-05-19/page-15 |newspaper=Laurel Leader Call |location=Laurel, Mississippi |access-date=2012-07-11 |quote=Radar bomb scoring began in 1946 with 888 bomb releases for the year against a site in the{{Verify source|date=August 2013}} San Diego}}</ref><ref name="Summary">{{Cite report |last=Horstead |first=Terry L. |date=9 November 1983 |title=Historical Summary: Radar Bomb Scoring, 1945–1983 |url=http://www.mobileradar.org/Documents/hist_sum_rad_bom_scrg.pdf |location=Barksdale AFB, Louisiana |publisher=Office of History, [[1st Combat Evaluation Group]] |access-date=29 March 2022 |quote=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.}}</ref> In the wake of the successful employment of air-dropped nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 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."{{r|Worden}}

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 [[C-45 Expeditor]] support aircraft, but by 1947 SAC had acquired an F-9C squadron consisting of twelve photo-reconnaissance variants of the [[B-17G Flying Fortress]].  An [[B-29 Superfortress|F-13]] squadron, the F-13 later re-designated as the [[B-29 Superfortress|RB-29 Superfortress]], was also established. SAC conducted routine aerial reconnaissance missions near the Soviet borders or near the 12-mile international waters limit, although some missions actually penetrated into Soviet airspace.  The flight profiles of these missions—above 30,000 feet and in excess of 300 knots—made interception by Soviet air forces difficult until the Soviet's 1948 introduction of the [[MiG-15]] jet fighter.{{r|Wack}} [[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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rb-29.net/HTML/77ColdWarStory/02.04rcnbgn.htm|title=Cold War Story, Chapter 2, The Need to Know-Cold War Aerial Recon Begins, Page 4 of 5 Pages|work=rb-29.net|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref>

[[File:USAF Atomic Bomb Delivery Aircraft 1950s Film.webm|thumb|''"USAF Atomic Bomb Delivery Aircraft"'' (1952).]]
In 1946, the US possessed only nine atomic bombs and twenty-seven [[B-29]]s capable at any one time of delivering them.{{r|Rosenberg}} Furthermore, it was later determined that an attack by the [[509th Bomb Wing|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.<ref name="jstor2538995">{{cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2538995 | last1 = Kohn | first1 = R. H. | last2 = Harahan | first2 = J. P. | year = 1988 | title = U.S. Strategic Air Power, 1948–1962: Excerpts from an Interview with Generals Curtis E. LeMay, Leon W. Johnson, David A. Burchinal, and Jack J. Catton | journal = International Security | volume = 12 | issue = 4 | pages = 78–95 | jstor = 2538995 | s2cid = 154782339 }}</ref><ref>Richard Kohn and Joseph Harahan, eds., Strategic Air Warfare: An Interview with Curtis E. LeMay, Leon W. Johnson, David A. Burchinal, and Jack J. Catton (Washington, DC: OAFH, 1988), 93.</ref> 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.<ref name="Worden" /> After the 1948 [[Bikini Atoll]] nuclear tests, the "Half Moon" Joint Emergency War Plan developed in May 1948<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/252404/Half-Moon|title=Half Moon|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> proposed dropping 50 atomic bombs on twenty Soviet cities,{{r|Rosenberg}}{{rp|68}} with President [[Harry S. Truman]] approving "Half Moon" during the June 1948 [[Berlin Blockade]],{{r|Rosenberg}}{{rp|68–9}} (Truman sent B-29s to Europe in July).{{r|Weitze}} SAC also ordered special ELINT RB-29s to detect improved Soviet [[radar]]s 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 [[Loring AFB|Limestone AAF]], Maine (later renamed [[Loring AFB]]), a new SAC installation specifically designed to accommodate the [[B-36 Peacemaker]]. [[McGuire Air Force Base|Fort Dix AAF]], New Jersey (later [[McGuire AFB]]); [[Fairchild Air Force Base|Spokane AAF]], Washington (later [[Fairchild AFB]]); and [[Wendover Air Force Base|Wendover Field]], Utah (later [[Wendover AFB]]) were also transferred to SAC between 30 April and 1 September 1947. Following the establishment of the USAF as a separate service, [[List of Strategic Air Command bases|SAC bases in the United States]] consisted of:{{r|Mueller}}

{{Div col}}
* [[Castle Air Force Base]], California
* [[Patrick Air Force Base]], Florida<ref>{{cite web|title=Patrick AFB - Cape Canaveral Air Base|url=http://www.strategic-air-command.com/bases/Patrick_AFB.htm|website=strategic-air-command.com|access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref>
* [[Cannon Air Force Base]], New Mexico <!--to ATC on 1 April 1950-->
* [[Carswell Air Force Base]], Texas
* [[Davis-Monthan Air Force Base]], Arizona <!--to TAC on 1 Oct 1976-->
* [[Ellsworth Air Force Base]], South Dakota
* [[MacDill Air Force Base]], Florida
* [[Mountain Home Air Force Base]], Idaho
* [[Kirtland Air Force Base]], New Mexico
* [[Loring Air Force Base]], Maine
* [[McGuire Air Force Base]], New Jersey
* [[Fairchild Air Force Base]], Washington
* [[Wendover Air Force Base]], Utah <!--inactivated/caretaker status 1948, to Air Material Command in 1 July 1950-->
{{Div col end}}

Those [[List of Strategic Air Command bases|bases subsequently added to SAC in the United States]] included:{{r|Mueller}}
{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
* 1 July 1948: [[Topeka Regional Airport|Topeka Air Force Base]], Kansas (later [[Topeka Regional Airport|Forbes Air Force Base]])
* 1 October 1948: [[Offutt Air Force Base]], Nebraska
* 1 October 1948: [[Biggs Army Airfield|Biggs Air Force Base]], Texas
* 1 July 1947: [[Castle Air Force Base]], California
* 21 March 1949: [[Bergstrom Air Force Base]], Texas
* 1 May 1949: [[March Air Force Base]], California
* 1 May 1949: [[Travis Air Force Base|Fairfield-Suisun AFB]], California (later [[Travis Air Force Base]])
* 1 November 1949: [[Barksdale Air Force Base]], Louisiana<ref name=AETChistory>{{cite report |title=A Brief History of Keesler AFB and the 81st Training Wing |url=http://www.keesler.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090203-089.pdf |volume=A-090203-089 |access-date=2013-07-08 |quote=Flight Engineer Training [was a] [[Mather Air Force Base|Mather]]-based program transferred to Strategic Air Command in early 1947 ... [a] flight engineer rating [required] successfully complet[ing] flying training in SAC [after] February 1947, and within several months ATC transferred the B-29s to SAC. ... [[Geiger Field]] transferred to Strategic Air Command as of 15 September. [ATC also] transferred a Geiger subpost, [[Fort George Wright|Fort George E. Wright]], to Strategic Air Command on 16 July. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904055045/http://www.keesler.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090203-089.pdf |archive-date=4 September 2012 }} (the fort had [http://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/usaf/3903rbs.htm SAC's RBS Detachment D] by 1950.)</ref>{{rp|59}}
* 29 September 1950: [[Hunter Army Airfield|Hunter Air Force Base]], Georgia
* 1 November 1950: [[Ramey Air Force Base]], Puerto Rico
* 1 February 1951: [[Chennault Air Force Base|Lake Charles Air Force Base]], Louisiana <br />(later [[Chennault Air Force Base]])
* 1 March 1951: [[Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base|Lockbourne Air Force Base]], Ohio (later [[Rickenbacker Air Force Base]])
* 23 July 1951: [[George Air Force Base]], California
* 1 August 1951: [[Whiteman Air Force Base|Sedalia Air Force Base]], Missouri (later [[Whiteman Air Force Base]])
* 1 September 1951: [[Pinecastle Air Force Base]], Florida (later [[McCoy Air Force Base]])
* 20 May 1952: [[Bangor Air National Guard Base|Dow Air Force Base]], Maine
* 5 January 1953: [[Homestead Air Force Base]], Florida
* 15 February 1953: [[Loring Air Force Base]], Maine
* 18 December 1953: [[Malmstrom Air Force Base]], Montana
* 1 February 1954: [[Lincoln Air National Guard Base|Lincoln Air Force Base]], Nebraska
* 21 June 1954: [[Altus Air Force Base]], Oklahoma
* 1 February 1955: [[Little Rock Air Force Base]], Arkansas
* 1 February 1955: [[Plattsburgh Air Force Base]], New York
* 1 February 1955: [[Pease Air Force Base|Portsmouth Air Force Base]], New Hampshire <br />(later [[Pease Air Force Base]])
* 15 March 1955: [[Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base]], Oklahoma
* 1 April 1955: [[Westover Air Force Base]], Massachusetts
* 1 April 1955: [[Columbus Air Force Base]], Mississippi
* 15 April 1956: [[Dyess Air Force Base|Abilene Air Force Base]], Texas (later [[Dyess Air Force Base]])
* 1 May 1956: [[Naval Air Station Albany|Turner Air Force Base]], Georgia
* 1 July 1956: [[Beale Air Force Base]], California
* 1 April 1957: [[Laughlin Air Force Base]], Texas
* 5 June 1957: [[R.I. Bong Air Force Base|Richard I. Bong Air Force Base]], Wisconsin <br />(base never completed; declared excess 23 August 1960)
* 1 September 1957: [[Bunker Hill Air Force Base]], Indiana (later [[Grissom Air Force Base]])
* 1 January 1958: [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]], California
* 1 February 1958: [[Francis E. Warren Air Force Base]], Wyoming
* 1 April 1958: [[Blytheville Air Force Base]], Arkansas (later [[Eaker Air Force Base]])
* 1 August 1958: [[Wurtsmith Air Force Base]], Michigan
* 1 January 1960: [[Larson Air Force Base]], Washington
* 1 April 1960: [[Glasgow Air Force Base]], Montana
* 1 July 1962: [[Minot Air Force Base]], North Dakota
* 1 July 1963: [[Grand Forks Air Force Base]], North Dakota
* 1 January 1964: [[K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base]], Michigan
* 1 October 1968: [[Kincheloe Air Force Base]], Michigan
* 1 July 1970: [[Griffiss Air Force Base]], New York
* 1 July 1972: [[McConnell Air Force Base]], Kansas
* 1 October 1979: [[Peterson AFB]], Colorado and various [[BMEWS]] and [[Space Surveillance Network|SSN]] radar stations
{{Div col end}}

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:

* [[Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport#Amarillo Air Force Base (1951–1968)|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 ==
[[File:Kee Bird The Day It Crashed - 19 Feb 1947.png|thumb|right|The RB-29 "[[Kee Bird]]" made an emergency landing in Greenland after a secret 1947 mission.]]
[[File:11th Bombardment Wing Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker 52-2225.jpg|thumb|[[11th Wing|11th Bombardment Wing]] [[Convair B-36|Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker]], AF Ser. No. 52-2225, circa 1955, showing "Six turnin', four burnin'".]]
[[File:B-52-castleafb-1957.jpg|thumb|[[93d Bombardment Wing|93 BW]] B-52Bs at [[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 Air Division]], [[4th Fighter Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, [[82nd Fighter Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, [[307th Bomb Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, and two reconnaissance units, the [[311th Reconnaissance Wing]]<!--31 March 1947--> and the [[46th Reconnaissance Squadron]]<!--1 May 1946-->.<ref>{{citation |type=organizational chart |date=Fall 1947<!--[[56th Fighter Wing]] in SAC 1 October 1947 – 1 December 1948--> |title=Strategic Air Command |id= Accessed 2013-08-14}} (published in {{cite book |last=Mixer |first=Ronald E |title=The Genealogy of the Strategic Air Command |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MaXQnAEACAAJ |publisher=Battermix}})</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rameyafb.net/the-history-pages/borinquen-field-renamed-in-1948/ |title=Borinquen Field Renamed in 1948 - Ramey Air Force Base Historical Association |access-date=2 November 2014 |archive-date=2 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102104947/http://www.rameyafb.net/the-history-pages/borinquen-field-renamed-in-1948/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html|title=Joe McCusker's Air Force Base List|work=airforcebase.net|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200104/http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In May 1948, in an exercise versus [[Air Defense Command]]'s "Blue" force, a SAC "Red" strike force simulated attacks on [[Eastern Seaboard of the United States|Eastern Seaboard]] targets as far south as Virginia.<ref name=Schaffel>{{cite book |last=Schaffel |first=Kenneth |title=The Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense, 1945–1960 |publisher=Office of Air Force History |year=1991 |location=Washington, DC |url=http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113175706/https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |archive-date=13 November 2005 }}</ref>{{rp|77}} After a "scathing" 1948 [[Charles A. Lindbergh|Lindbergh]] review of SAC operations in the air and at six SAC bases,{{r|Worden}} General Kenney was removed as Commanding General on 15 October 1948{{r|Alexander}} 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.{{r|Tillman}} LeMay proposed that SAC should be able to deliver 80% of its weapons in one mission.{{r|rhodes19950611}} The B-29D, which had become the [[B-50 Superfortress|B-50]] in December 1945,<ref>{{cite report |last=Knaack |first=Marcelle Size |year=1988 |chapter=Appendix II: Experimental and Prototype Bombers, North American XB-70A |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems |volume=II: Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973 |publisher=Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force |location=Washington DC |isbn=0-912799-59-5 }}</ref> was first delivered to SAC in June 1948.{{r|Baugher}} This was followed by SAC's first Convair [[B-36 Peacemaker]] bomber arriving at [[Kirtland AFB]], New Mexico in September 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kirtland AFB, New Mexico |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/kirtland.htm |work=Military Facilities: Air Force Bases |access-date=2013-08-31}}</ref>

In November 1948, LeMay had SAC's headquarters and its command post moved from [[Andrews AFB]], Maryland to [[Offutt AFB]], Nebraska.  At Offutt, the command moved into the "A Building", a three-story facility that had previously been used by the [[Glenn L. Martin Company]] during World War II.  Concurrent with the establishment of this new headquarters facility, Lemay also increased SAC [[Radar Bomb Scoring]] (RBS) runs the same year to 12,084.<ref name="Summary" /> SAC also enhanced its organic fighter escort capability by initiating replacement of its World War II vintage piston-engine [[North American P-51 Mustang|F-51D Mustang]] and [[F-82E Twin Mustang]] fighter aircraft with [[F-84G Thunderjet]]s. In January 1949, SAC conducted simulated raids on [[Wright-Patterson AFB]], Ohio.  Assessments of these simulated raids by "...LeMay's entire command...were appalling",<ref name="rhodes19950611">{{Cite magazine |last=Rhodes |first=Richard |date=1995-06-11 |title=The General and World War III |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/06/19/the-general-and-world-war-iii |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X |access-date=2023-11-30}}</ref><ref name="Alexander">{{cite news |last=Alexander |first=Sigmund |date=July 2005 |volume=22 |title=Radar Bomb Scoring: RBS Operations |url=http://b-47.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Newsletter-22-Jul-2005.pdf |newspaper=[[The Stratojet Newsletter]] |publisher=[[B-47 Stratojet]] Association |access-date=2012-07-09 }}</ref> despite the SAC deputy commander, Major General McMullen, having instructed all bomber units to improve their effectiveness.  To motivate crews and improve operational effectiveness command-wide, SAC established [[Fairchild Trophy|a competition, the first so-called "Bomb Comp"]] in 1948.  Winners of this inaugural event were the [[43rd Bombardment Group]] (unit) and, for aircrew award, a B-29 team from the [[509th Bombardment Group]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Stives |first=Brian |date= 2010-11-05 |title=Global Strike Challenge – A legacy of excellence |url=https://www.afgsc.af.mil/News/story/id/123227907/ |publisher=[[Eighth Air Force]] Public Affairs |access-date=2013-09-15 }}</ref> Given its global operating environment, SAC also opened its own survival school at [[Camp Carson]], Colorado in 1949, later moving this school to [[Reno Stead Airport|Stead AFB]], Nevada in 1952 before transferring the school to the [[Air Training Command]] in 1954.{{r|AETChistory}}<!--{{rp|97,146}}-->

SAC also created [[United States war plans (1945–1950)|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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Englehardt |first=Tom |year=2007 |title=The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America... |publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press |isbn=9781558495869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGtlrotHe2AC&pg=PA155 |access-date=2012-08-14}}</ref> 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 [[Andersen AFB|Guam]]<!--{{rp |112}}--> and deployed four B-29 bomber wings in Korea for tactical operations, although this action caused SAC commander LeMay to comment <!--{{rp |114}}-->"...too many splinters were being whittled off the [deterrence] stick"<!--{{rp |113–4}}-->.{{r|Tillman}}

Initial SAC B-29 successes against North Korea in the summer of 1950 were countered by subsequent Soviet [[MiG-15]] fighter-interceptors, and SAC's [[27th Special Operations Wing|27th Fighter Escort Wing]] began escorting the bombers with F–84 Thunderjets.{{r|AFD100526}} [[Ground-directed bombing]] (GDB) was subsequently used for [[close air support]] (CAS) missions after three SAC radar bomb scoring (RBS) squadron detachments (Dets C, K, & N) arrived at [[Pusan, South Korea|Pusan]] in September 1950<!-- (the GDB mission later transferred to the [[502d Tactical Control Group]].)-->.{{r|AFD100526}} In 1951, SAC "began to eliminate its combat groups", transferring medium bombardment groups "to [[Far East Air Forces]] (FEAF) Bomber Command for combat."<ref name=AFD100526>{{Cite book |author=Organizational History Branch, Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency |editor-last=Endicott |editor-first=Judy G. |title=The USAF in Korea: Campaigns, Units, and Stations 1950–1953 |year=2001 |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/26/2001330297/-1/-1/0/AFD-100526-045.pdf |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Air Force History and Museums Program |isbn=9780160509018 |oclc=994583778 |quote=To help meet the threat of the Soviet-built MiG–15 fighter in Korea, the USAF diverted Strategic Air Command's 27th FEW with its F–84 Thunderjets to the Far East instead of sending it as planned to England. In early December 1950, the wing established a rear echelon at [[Itazuke, Japan]] and took its F–84s to [[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.}}</ref> In 1951, LeMay convinced the Air Staff to allow SAC to approve nuclear targets,{{r|Rosenberg1983}}{{rp |18}} and he continued refusing to submit war plans for JCS review, which the JCS eventually came to accept{{r|Rosenberg1983}}{{rp |37}} (of 20,000 candidates in 1960, SAC designated 3,560 as bombing targets—mostly Soviet air defense: airfields and suspected missile sites.){{r|Rosenberg1983}}{{rp |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 [[31st Fighter-Escort Wing]] refueled sixty [[F-84G Thunderjet]]s from [[Turner Air Force Base|Turner AFB]], Georgia to [[Travis Air Force Base|Travis AFB]], California non-stop with fuel from twenty-four [[KB-29P Superfortress]]es modified into aerial tankers. Exercise FOX PETER ONE followed with 31st FEW fighters being refueled [[Hickam AFB]] en route to Hawaii.<ref name="AFREF">{{cite web|url=https://www.amc.af.mil/news/story?id=123144488|title=History of aerial refueling: Fueling the fighters|work=af.mil|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> On 15 March 1953, a [[38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron]] RB-50<!--("The Laboring Lady") SOURCE: 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing ARTICLE--> returned fire on a Soviet MiG-15, while a [[343d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron]] RB-50 was shot down over the [[Sea of Japan]] 2 days after the Korean Armistice, while on 7 November 1954, an RB-29 was shot down near [[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{{r|Lloyd}} and forty-eight B-29s were lost to damage or crashes.

== Cold War and massive retaliation ==
[[File:Titan2 color silo.jpg|thumb|[[LGM-25C Titan II|Titan II]] missile launching from Site 395-C, a test launch silo at [[Vandenberg AFB]].]]
[[File:SAC logo on B-47.jpg|thumb|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 [[B-47 Stratojet|swept-wing B-47]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Alwyn T |year=1988 |title=B-47 Stratojet in detail & scale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nj8yAQAAIAAJ&q=strategic+air+command |publisher=TAB Books |isbn=9780816850235 |access-date=2013-09-15}}</ref> medium bomber, which first entered service in 1951 and became operational within SAC in 1953.  The B-47 was a component of the October<!--Volume I--> 1953 ''[[New Look (policy)|New Look]]'' strategy, which articulated, in part, that: "''...to minimize the threat<!--...a massive retaliatory capability [for] an effective continental defense system--><ref>Joint Chiefs of Staff summary{{Specify|date=August 2012}} (cited by Schaffel p. 194)</ref>...the major purpose of [[Permanent System radar stations|air defense]] was not to shoot down enemy bombers—it was to allow SAC{{r|Schaffel}}<!--p. 251-->...to get into the air''[--and]'' not be destroyed on the ground''[--to allow]'' [[massive retaliation]]''."<ref>[[House of Commons of Canada]] transcript (quoted by Schaffel, p. 251—speaker not identified). Note: [[Massive retaliation]] was "espoused publicly in January 1954 by Eisenhower's Secretary of State, [[John Foster Dulles]]" (Schaffel p. 194)</ref>

Concern of a [[bomber gap]] grew after the 1955 [[Soviet Aviation Day]] and the Soviets rejected the "[[Treaty on Open Skies|Open Skies]]" Treaty proposed at the [[Geneva Summit (1955)|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"<!--Bomber Gap WIKIARTICLE--> (circa 1956, 50% of SAC aircraft & 80% of SAC bombers were B-47s).{{r|Boyne}}{{rp |104}}

In an effort to concurrently enhance its reconnaissance capabilities, SAC also received several [[Martin RB-57D Canberra|RB-57D Canberra]] aircraft<!-- as Weapon System MX-2147 ([[code name]] Bald Eagle)--> [[4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing|in April 1956]], with the aircraft initially based at [[Turner AFB]], Georgia.{{r|Mikesh}} 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.<ref name=Mikesh>{{cite book |last=Mikesh |first=Robert C |year=1995 |title=Martin B-57 Canberra: The Complete Record |publisher=Schiffer Pub Ltd |isbn=0-88740-661-0}}</ref>

Since it was designed as a medium bomber, SAC's [[B-47 Stratojet]] traded speed for range.  Because of this shorter range, and in order to better enable the B-47 fleet to reach its target sets in the Soviet Union, SAC routinely deployed its US-based B-47 wings to overseas forward operating bases in North Africa, Spain and Turkey.  This program, in effect from 1957 to 1966, was known as [[Operation Reflex]] with [[Sixteenth Air Force]] (16AF), a SAC [[numbered air force]] permanently stationed in Europe, having tactical and administrative control of the forward-deployed aircraft and units.{{r|Baugher}} 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.<ref>[http://www.jeromegoolsby.net/military/sacstats.htmlkept] {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Ten Years To Remember 1964.webm|thumb|''"The Martin Company: Ten Years To Remember"'' (1964). Official [[USAF]] ICBM development promotional film reel.]]
Concurrent with this increased alert posture and in order to better hone strategic bombing skillsets, the 1955 [[Fairchild Trophy|SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition]] was characterized by radar bomb scoring (RBS) runs on Amarillo, [[Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range#Denver Bomb Plot|Denver]], Salt Lake City, Kansas City, San Antonio<ref>{{cite web |title=7th Bombardment Wing Operations, Carswell AFB, 1955–1958 |url=http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/b36genhistpg4.html |publisher=7bwb-36assn.org |access-date=2013-09-15 |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006083920/http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/b36genhistpg4.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Phoenix;<ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 1955 |title=Fairchild Wing To Get Trophy in Bomb Tests |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19550502&id=XPpXAAAAIBAJ&pg=4206,164978 |format=Google news archive |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |access-date=2013-08-16}}</ref> and the 1957 competition (nicknamed "Operation Longshot")<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201525.html 1957 | 1525 | Flight Archive]. ''FlightGlobal''. (18 October 1957). Retrieved 2013-09-18.</ref> had three targets: [[Statesboro Bomb Scoring Site|Atlanta]], Kansas City, and St. Louis.<ref>{{cite news |last=Haugland |first=Vern |date=31 October 1957 |title=90 SAC Planes to H-Bomb 3 Target Cities Off Map |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zF9QAAAAIBAJ&pg=7362,5208977&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en |newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel |access-date=2013-09-15 |archive-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124201649/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zF9QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_w8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7362,5208977&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] and (after 30 April 1968) its successor, [[RAF Strike Command]].

== {{anchor|Nuclear bunkers}}Nuclear Bunkers, SAC Ground Alert, and transfer of SAC's Fighter-Escort Wings ==
{{For|the underground NORAD and aboveground Pentagon command posts|Cheyenne Mountain Complex|National Military Command Center}}
[[File:Offutt Air Force Base - SAC Headquarters.jpg|thumb|247x247px|Strategic Air Command Headquarters at [[Offutt Air Force Base|Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska]].]]
[[File:President Jimmy Carter and Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown while touring Strategic Air Command's Headquarters.jpg|thumb|247x247px|[[President of the United States|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 [[Offutt AFB]] and the new headquarters complex built expressly for SAC, with construction commencing in 1955.{{r|Weitze}} SAC headquarters moved from the A Building at Offutt AFB to Building 500 in 1957. The underground [[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.{{r|Weitze}} 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).<ref>{{cite web |format=5 webpages transcribing SAC Lt. Gen. [[James Edmundson]]'s interview |title=Race for the Superbomb |publisher=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/bomb/ }} [[Public Broadcasting System]] (''[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund06.html SAC mission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820202100/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund06.html |date=20 August 2016 }}, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund05.html Response Time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820193332/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund05.html |date=20 August 2016 }}, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund11.html War Plans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820203415/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund11.html |date=20 August 2016 }}, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund13.html End of the Cold War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820192725/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/edmund13.html |date=20 August 2016 }}'')</ref>

In 1957, SAC also constructed [[Post-Attack Command and Control System Facility, Hadley|The Notch]], a facility alternatively known as the '''8th Air Force Combat Operations Center''' (COC) and the '''Westover Communications Annex''', since it was a sub-post of nearby [[Westover AFB]].  A 3-story nuclear bunker located on [[Bare Mountain (Massachusetts)|Bare Mountain, Massachusetts]], The Notch was built with three-foot thick walls, 1.5 foot thick steel blast doors, and 20 feet underground to protect 350 people for 35 days.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mt. Holyoke Timeline: 1950–1974 |url=http://www.chronos-historical.org/mtholyoke/history3.html |work= chronos-historical.org/mtholyoke |publisher=Chronos-Historical.org |access-date=2013-08-30 }}</ref> The Notch was shut down as a SAC facility in 1970 when 8th Air Force was relocated to [[Barksdale AFB]], Louisiana.

Despite this investment in "hardened" headquarters and command and control facilities, the 1957 [[Gaither Report|Gaither Commission]] identified, "...little likelihood of SAC's bombers surviving [a Soviet first strike] since there was no way [[Ballistic Missile Early Warning System|to detect an incoming attack]] until the first [Soviet nuclear weapon] warhead landed."<ref name=Freeman>{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=Maj Steve |date=September 1997|volume= 5|number= 6 (Special Anniversary Edition) |title=Visionaries, Cold War, hard work built the foundations of [[Air Force Space Command]] |location=Peterson Air Force Base |newspaper=Guardian Magazine...funded Air Force newspaper |page=6 }}</ref> As a result, SAC's bombers and tankers began sitting armed ground alert at their respective bases on 1 Oct 57.<ref>{{cite report |last=Narducci |first=Henry M |date=1 April 1988 |title=Strategic Air Command and the Alert Program: A Brief History |url=http://www.siloworld.net/DOWNLOADS/SAC%20Brief%20History%20Reduced.pdf |publisher=Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command |location=Offutt Air Force Base |access-date=2013-09-08}}{{page needed|date=July 2025}}</ref> In another organizational change during this time period, SAC's fighter escort wings were transferred to [[Tactical Air Command]] (TAC) during 1957 and 1958.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boyd |first=Robert J |year=1988 |title=SAC's fighter planes and their operations |publisher=Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command (Supt. of Docs, U.S. G.P.O.)}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="NORAD1959A">{{Cite NORAD Historical Summary |version=1959 |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>

== Nuclear missiles, aircrew readiness, airborne alert, and strategic reconnaissance ==
[[File:Missile Combat Crew on alert.jpg|thumb|Minuteman ICBM crew on alert in a [[launch complex]] at [[Minot Air Force Base]], North Dakota]]
[[File:US Air Force U-2 (2139646280).jpg|thumb|SAC received its first [[Lockheed U-2]] aircraft in June 1957. ]]After SAC's [[1st Missile Division]] was activated on 18 March 1957, SAC HQ established the Office of Assistant CINCSAC (SAC MIKE) at the [[Air Force Ballistic Missile Division]] in California on 1 January 1958. SAC MIKE was responsible for missile development liaison,{{r|Clark}} the intermediate range [[Jupiter (missile)|Jupiter]] and [[PGM-17A Thor|Thor]] missiles having been transferred to SAC for alert in 1958.<ref name=Condit>{{cite report |last=Condit |first=Kenneth W. |year=1992 |orig-year=1971 classified vol |chapter=Chapter 4: The Weapons Revolution and Service Functions |title=The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy: 1955–1956 |volume=VI of <u>History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff</u> |publisher=Historical Office, Joint Staff |location=Washington, DC }} (Condit's footnote 41 on p. 294 cites:<br />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.)</ref>

Beginning on 1 February 1958, a SAC Liaison Team was also located at the [[NORAD]] Command Post at [[Ent AFB]], Colorado, and the two commands agreed that direct land line communications should connect SAC bases with NORAD's [[Air Defense Direction Center]]s.{{r|NORAD1959A}}  Also in the late 1950s, SAC continued to enhance its intelligence collection activities and develop innovative means of improving the survivability of its forces to surprise attack.  From 1958 to about 1967, a SAC Detachment (TUSLOG Det 50) operated at [[Incirlik AB]], Turkey, monitoring Soviet missile telemetry from the [[Kapustin Yar]] and [[Tyuratam]] launch complexes. In 1959–60,  SAC evaluated deploying [[Minuteman (missile)|Minuteman I]] ICBMs via civilian railroad tracks on [[Minuteman Mobility Test Train|USAF-operated locomotives and trains]].

President Eisenhower approved the first [[Atlas (missile)|Atlas]] ICBM launch by a SAC crew for 9 September 1959 at Vandenberg AFB.<ref>{{citation |type=typewritten record at Eisenhower Archives with 6/19/79 date at top |date=9 September 1959 |title=handwritten memorandum to the President |author=[[Neil McElroy|Secretary of Defense]]}}</ref> 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 [[F-102]] and a SAC [[B-47]] during a 17 December 1959 Quick Kick exercise, simulated NORAD fighter attacks were prohibited against SAC bombers.<ref name="NORAD1959B">{{Cite NORAD Historical Summary |version=1959b |access-date=2013-04-30}} "On 19 December 1959, NORAD and SAC informed their unlts that, for the interim, no [mock] fighter attacks against bomber aircraft would be allowed. The order was issued as a result of a mid-air collision on 17 December between an F-102 and a B-47 engaged in exercise [[Quick Kick]]."</ref>{{rp|63}}

On 18 March 1960, SAC intercontinental missiles began alert at Maine's [[Snark Missile Launch Complex]] adjacent to [[Presque Isle Air Force Base|Presque Isle AFB]]. The following month, on 22 April 1960, SAC turned over the last British-based [[PGM-17 Thor]] IRBM to the [[Royal Air Force]].<!--705th Strategic Missile Wing WIKIARTICLE <ref name=7AD1960/--> This was soon followed by SAC's first [[HGM-25A Titan I|Titan I]] ICBMs at [[Lowry AFB]]'s [[Titan I Missile Complex 1A]] in Colorado being placed on alert that June.

Beginning in November 1959, in order to counter Soviet [[surface-to-air missile]] threats, SAC began adding low-altitude bombing training for its manned bomber force as an adjunct to its legacy high-altitude training.  Use of low level flight route corridors known as "Oil Burner" routes (later renamed "Olive Branch" routes in the 1970s),<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Cherokeean |location=Rusk, Texas |date=28 December 1961 |url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth150424/m1/7/zoom/ |title=Jet Bombers To Descend Near Alto For Series of Mock Air Attacks |access-date=2013-09-18 |format=UniSv of Tennessee archives |quote=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}}</ref> and the first of three SAC [[RBS Express|RBS trains]] were utilized starting in 1960. On 30 June 1960, SAC had 696 aircraft on alert in the Zone of Interior, also known as the ZI (referred to today as the Continental United States, or [[CONUS]]) and at overseas bases.  These 696 aircraft were 113 B-52s, 346 B-47s, 85 KC-135s, and 152 KC-97s.  SAC's [[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.<ref>{{Cite report |publisher=Headquarters, Strategic Air Command |title=History of the Strategic Air Command, 1 January 1960 – 30 June 1960 |page=135}} (quotation and citation from ''Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning'': Part 2)</ref> 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 [[Offutt AFB]].<ref>{{cite report |last=Adams |first=Chris |year=2001 |title=Ideologies in Conflict; A Cold War Docu-Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FBOt6m-XCyYC&q=strategic+air+command |publisher=Writers' Showcase |access-date=2013-09-15}}</ref>) JSTPS also included non-SAC agencies tasked with preparing the [[Single Integrated Operation Plan]], or [[Single Integrated Operation Plan|SIOP]], and the National Strategic Target List for nuclear war.<ref name="Rosenberg1983">{{cite journal |last=Rosenberg |first=David A |title=The Origins of Overkill: Nuclear Weapons and American Strategy, 1945–1960 |journal=International Security |number=4 |volume=7| date=Spring 1983 |pages=3–71 |publisher=University of Southern California |place=Los Angeles |jstor=2626731|doi=10.2307/2626731 |s2cid=154529784 }}</ref>{{rp|62}} On 1 July 1960, a SAC RB-47 with a six-man crew was [[1960 RB-47 shootdown incident|shot down]] in international airspace over the [[Barents Sea]] by a Soviet [[MiG-19]]. Four of the crewmen were killed and two surviving crewmen were captured and held in [[Lubyanka Prison]] in Moscow for seven months.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1881 |title=Fact Sheets : RB-47H Shot Down : RB-47H Shot Down |access-date=2007-10-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029173940/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1881 |archive-date=29 October 2007 }}</ref> On 3 February 1961, SAC's [[Boeing EC-135]] [[Looking Glass (airplane)|Looking Glass]], began operations<ref name="Deaile">{{Cite thesis |last=Deaile |first=Melvin G. |year=2007 |title=The SAC Mentality: The Origins of Organizational Culture in Strategic Air Command, 1946–1962 |url=https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent?id=uuid:2ad28821-8054-4890-804d-43af2737b85f&ds=DATA_FILE |type=Ph.D. dissertation |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |access-date=2013-09-16 |doi=10.17615/xvz8-0261 |quote=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."<sup>63</sup> ... 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.<sup>94</sup> }}</ref> as the [[Airborne Command Post]] for the Nuclear Triad and the [[Post-Attack Command and Control System]].  From this date and for the next {{frac|29|1|2}} 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.{{r|GlobalSecurity}} 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.

[[File:Boeing EC-135 62-3579 Ellsworth.JPEG|thumb|EC-135 Looking Glass aircraft]]
[[File:B-58 Hustler.jpg|thumb|[[Convair B-58 Hustler|B-58A Hustler]] supersonic bomber]]

On 11 May 1961, SAC took delivery of its first [[Convair B-58 Hustler|B-58 Hustler]] supersonic medium bomber, assigning it to the [[305th Bombardment Wing]] at [[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 [[General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark|FB-111]] by 1970.[[File:FB-111 Formation.jpg|thumb|An overhead view of two SAC <br />FB-111As in formation|alt=An air-to-air front overhead view of two FB-111As in formation]]

After an early 1961 development by SAC of a Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) field kit for use in the [[U.S. Army]]'s [[Project Nike|Nike]] surface-to-air missile systems,<ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2013}}{{cite web |title=title tbd |url=http://ed-thelen.org/WesternElectricNikeHerculesBrown.pdf |publisher=Ed-Thelen.org }}</ref> SAC aircraft flew several mock penetrations into [[Air Defense Command]] sectors in the 1961 [[Semi-Automatic Ground Environment|SAGE]]/[[Missile Master]] test program,<ref name=ASD1961>{{Cite report |date=December 1961 |title=A Survey and Summary of Mathematical and Simulation Models as Applied to Weapon System Evaluation |url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/4298/4/bab9742.0001.001.txt |publisher=[[Aeronautical Systems Center|Aeronautical Systems Division]], USAF |access-date=2011-09-13 |quote=''the Phase II and Phase III [[NORAD]] SAGE/ [[Martin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense System|Missile Master]] [program] employing SAC and [[Aerospace Defense Command|ADC]] aircraft ''[under]'' the NORAD Joint Test Force stationed at [[Stewart Air National Guard Base|Stewart AFB]].''}} (cites Miller 1961)</ref> as well as the joint SAC-NORAD [[Operation Skyshield|Sky Shield II exercise followed by Sky Shield III]] on 2 September 1962.<ref>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2013}}{{cite web |title=title tbd |url=http://www.atlasmissilesilo.com/Documents/SquadronUnitHistory/AtlasF/579thSMS/AF-D-O-579-99-RO-00009_6thBombWing_UnitHistory_1962_09_September.pdf |format=AtlasMissileSilo.com pdf file |access-date=17 August 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055807/http://www.atlasmissilesilo.com/Documents/SquadronUnitHistory/AtlasF/579thSMS/AF-D-O-579-99-RO-00009_6thBombWing_UnitHistory_1962_09_September.pdf |url-status=dead }} pdf p. 17</ref>

[[File:Boeing B-52D-70-BO (SN 56-0582) is refueled by Boeing KC-135A-BN (SN 55-3127) 061127-F-1234S-009.jpg|thumb|KC-135 refueling a B-52D in 1965, the year the last KC-135 was delivered to SAC.{{r|factsheets}}]]
[[File:B-52D dropping bombs.jpg|thumb|B-52D dropping bombs over Vietnam, circa 1970.]]
In 1961, following the [[Berlin Crisis of 1961|Berlin Crisis]], President [[John F. Kennedy]] increased the number of SAC aircraft on alert to 50 percent{{r|Worden}} and during periods of [[Defense Condition|increased tensions]] SAC kept some B-52 airborne in the event of a surprise attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nukestrat.com/dk/alert.htm|title=the nuclear information project: the airborne alert program|work=nukestrat.com|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> In 1962, SAC gained full control of the various "Q Areas" developed by [[Sandia Laboratories]] for nuclear weapon storage adjacent to Loring AFB ([[Caribou Air Force Station|Site E (Maine)/Caribou AFS]]), Ellsworth AFB ([[Rushmore Air Force Station|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.{{r|Weitze}}

The solid fuel [[LGM-30A Minuteman I]] was first deployed in 1962 and the [[LGM-25C Titan II]] reached operational service in 1963.{{r|Lloyd}} Project Added Effort phased out all first-generation ICBMs beginning on 1 May 1964 when Atlas-D were taken off alert at Vandenberg AFB's 576th SMS{{r|Fisher}} ([[LGM-30F Minuteman II]] replaced Minuteman I in 1965). In October 1962, an SAC BRASS KNOB mission U-2 piloted by Major [[Richard S. Heyser]] detected [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Soviet intermediate range ballistic missiles in Cuba]].  BRASS KNOB operations involving multiple U-2 aircraft were subsequently commenced at a forward operating location at [[McCoy AFB]], Florida the same month.  On the morning of 27 October, a SAC RB-47H of the [[55th Wing|55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]], forward deployed to [[Kindley AFB]], Bermuda crashed on takeoff, killing all four crewmembers, while later that afternoon, a [[4028th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron]] U-2 forward deployed to McCoy AFB for BRASS KNOB operations was [[Cuban Missile Crisis|shot down over Cuba]] by an [[SA-2 Guideline]] missile, killing the pilot, Major [[Rudolf Anderson]].{{r|Deaile}}

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 [[North American B-70 Valkyrie]] in 1961, the [[GAM-87 Skybolt]] missile in 1962, and the Rocky Mountain [[Deep Underground Support Center]] in 1963.  The B-70's demise came due to its design as a high-altitude bomber with very limited low-altitude performance, making it vulnerable to rapid advances in Soviet high altitude surface-to-air missile defense systems.  The following year, Skybolt, an air-launched ballistic missile, was cancelled following numerous test failures and the perceived greater reliability of land-based and submarine-based ballistic missile systems.  Although initially entering service in 1957, SAC's 2nd-generation aerial refueling aircraft, the [[KC-135 Stratotanker]], had reached sufficient inventory numbers to allow SAC to begin divestiture of its [[Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter|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.){{r|Tillman}}{{rp |108}}

[[File:Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.jpg|thumb|right|SAC [[SR-71 Blackbird]]s & 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 [[Robert McNamara|the Secretary of Defense]] rejected LeMay's November 1964 proposal for a "...strategic air campaign against 94 targets in North Vietnam...", thirty SAC B-52Fs were deployed to [[Andersen AFB]], Guam on 17 February 1965, representing the first increment of SAC aircraft forward deployed for the [[Vietnam War]].{{r|Worden}}<!--{{rp|174}}--> The following month, in March 1965,<!--{{r|Worden}}--> the [[Strategic Air Command Advanced Echelon]] (SACADVON)<ref>{{citation |format=Oral History Interview tape—21 minutes |date=1968-11-15 |title=IRISNUM 00904050 |url=http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/904/050.xml |location=SACADVON, Tan Son Nhut Air Base |volume=Project CORONA HARVEST Collection, Part of |access-date=2013-08-30 |publisher=abstract at Air Force History Index.org |quote=Operational Concept of BUGLE NOTE}}</ref> was established as a "...liaison unit for CINCSAC [was] located at MACV Headquarters to assist with the B-52 effort."{{r|Menu}} 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..."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drenkowski |first=Drew |date=September 1977 |title=Operation Linebacker II |journal=Soldier of Fortune 2, No. 3 |pages=15–20}} (cited by Worden p. 174)</ref> SAC began [[Carpet bombing|saturation bombing]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Part Three: Countering the Communist Threat During the Cold War |url=http://www.airforce.com/learn-about/history/part3/ |work=Air Force History |publisher=AirForce.com |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-date=29 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129102417/http://airforce.com/learn-about/history/part3/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> on 18 June 1965{{r|SAC1969}} (8000 tons per month in 1966)<ref>{{cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |year=1992 |title=SAC, A Primer of Modern Strategic Airpower |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYvfAAAAMAAJ&q=vietnam |format=Google books |publisher=Presidio Press |isbn=9780891411895 |quote=By June [1966], after a year in the war zone, B-52s were dropping 8000 tons of bombs monthly in saturation raids on South Vietnam}}</ref> and conducted [[Operation Arc Light]] missions from 1965 until the end of hostilities involving U.S. forces in 1973.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Correll |first=John T. |date=January 2009 |title=Arc Light |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2009/January%202009/0109arc.aspx |format=transcript of article |journal=[[Air Force Magazine]] |access-date=2013-08-16}}</ref>

All B-52F missions in 1965 were against targets in [[Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnam (RVN)]] except for the December<!--p. 121-2--> "...Duck Flight mission [that] hit a suspected [[Vietcong|VC]] supply storage area [for which] part of the target box was in Laos."{{r|SAC1966}}{{rp|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<ref>[[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress]]</ref> to increase conventional bomb capacity.{{r|Baugher}}

[[Radar Bomb Scoring Division|SAC's RBS Squadrons]] were discontinued when most detachment personnel transferred to Vietnam from 1966 to 1973 for [[Combat Skyspot]] [[ground-directed bombing]] operations. The first "[[Combat Skyspot|Quick Reaction]]" bombing was the "Pink Lady" mission on 6 July 1966 using SAC B-52D/Fs to support the U.S. Army's [[1st Air Cavalry Division]].<ref name=SAC1966>1966 SAC history https://www.scribd.com/doc/47549447/SAC-History-1966-Study-102 [SAC1966 http://dougkeeney.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pages-from-sac_history_1966_study_102-laos-targets1.pdf (pp. 121–122 on 1965-6 bombings)]</ref>{{rp|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.{{r|factsheets}}

By May 1967,<ref>{{cite web |format=memorial webpage |title=title tbd |url=http://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=8139 |quote=The attack of February 24, 1968, killed 1 of the 1CEG personnel, while wounding 4 (myself among them.) Sgts Rose and Norman Thomas of SAC ADVON were also killed.}}</ref> SACADVON had moved to [[Seventh Air Force]] headquarters<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Wayne |title=To Hanoi and Back: The United States Air Force and North Vietnam 1966–1973 |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFODLIxqkWwC&q=%22SACADVON%22&pg=PA16 |format=Google books |access-date=2013-08-30}}</ref> at [[Tan Son Nhut Air Base]], South Vietnam to schedule and coordinate "...strikes for the 7th AF and MACV."{{r|ADA539675}} 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<!-- (including discharges up to 11 months early) enacted for new ceilings established by the DoD-->{{r|SAC1969}} to comply with Public Law 90-364.<ref>{{cite report |last=Drea |first=Edward J. |isbn=978-0-16-088135-0 |year=1984 |title=McNamara, Clifford, and theBurdens of Vietnam1965-1969 |url=http://history.defense.gov/resources/OSDSeries_Vol6.pdf |volume=VI, Secretaries of Defense Historical Series |publisher=Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense |access-date=2013-08-30 |quote=Strategic Air Command, denominated a [[specified command]] because...it came under the operational control of the JCS.<sup>24</sup> ... [[Clark Clifford|Clifford]] had previously appointed a group, known as [[Project 693]], to determine which programs to sacrifice when it became necessary.<sup>65</sup> ... In late July, a special committee devising scenarios for T-Day, the day hostilities in Vietnam ended, posited that, depending on timing assumptions, anywhere between 30,000 troops and a two-division corps (about 60,000 personnel) might have to remain in South Vietnam indefinitely. ... [[Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft]] (AMSA) ... McNamara test, 25 Jan 66, House Subcte No 2, HCAS, ''Hearing: Department of Defense Decision to Reduce the Number and Types of Manned Bombers in the Strategic Air Command'', 6084. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029201119/http://history.defense.gov/resources/OSDSeries_Vol6.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> 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 [[AGM-28 Hound Dog]] missiles at the end of the year.){{r|SAC1969}}{{rp|6}}  This also coincided with the [[B-58 Hustler]]'s in-progress retirement from SAC's active inventory and its replacement with the [[FB-111]].

On 18 March 1969, along the South Vietnamese border, SAC first bombed Cambodia ([[Operation Menu]] through 26 May 1970 was controlled by Skyspot).{{r|Menu}} On 17 February 1970, SAC conducted the first "GOOD LOOK" bombing of Laos at the [[Plaine des Jarres]] after B-52 photorecon missions ("GOOD LOOK ALPHA" in August 1969 and "GOOD LOOK BRAVO" {{circa|lk=no|15 January 1970}}) and the observations of a [[Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base|Skyspot installation in Thailand]].{{r|Menu}}{{rp|19}} SAC transferred "...HQ 8th AF...to [[Andersen AFB]], Guam on 1 April 1970 to oversee B-52D/G operations and to complement SACADVON".<ref name="ADA539675">{{cite report |title=Lessons from Vietnam: Should SAC Perform Both Nuclear and Conventional Missions? |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA539675 |access-date=2013-08-30 |date= |archive-date=1 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901182048/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA539675 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 8th AF took over from [[Air Division (United States)|Third Air Division]] the generation of [[Operations order|"frag" orders]] based on daily strike requests and amendments from [[COMUSMACV]].<ref name="Menu">{{cite report |date=10 September 1973 |title=...Selected Air and Ground Operations in Cambodia and Laos |url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/vietnam_and_southeast_asiaDocuments/27.pdf |format=presented during "Bombing in Cambodia" hearings before the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] |publisher=US Department of Defense |access-date=2013-08-30 |quote=[[COMBAT SKYSPOT]] radar...controlled all [[Operation Menu|Operation MENU missions]]. |archive-date=13 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713034525/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/vietnam_and_southeast_asiaDocuments/27.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1970, SAC deployed the [[LGM-30G Minuteman III]] ICBM with [[multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle]] or MIRVs, for striking 3 targets, while concurrently retiring the [[B-58 Hustler]] supersonic bomber.

1972 saw the commencement of [[Operation Linebacker II]], a combined [[Seventh Air Force]] and [[U.S. Navy]] [[Task Force 77 (United States 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.<ref>[[Operation Linebacker II]]</ref> 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 [[Vietnam War]] included [[B-52 Stratofortress|B-52D, B-52F, B-52G]], [[KC-135 Stratotanker|KC-135A, KC-135Q]], various versions of the [[RC-135]], [[SR-71]], [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]], and [[Boeing EC-135|EC-135]].

===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:
* [[Altus AFB]] (transferred to MAC, later to AETC)
* [[Bergstrom Air Force Base|Bergstrom AFB]] (transferred to TAC, then ACC until [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]] closure in 1993)
* [[Columbus AFB]] (transferred to ATC, now AETC)
* [[Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base|Clinton-Sherman AFB]] (closed)
* [[Bangor Air National Guard Base|Dow AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Bangor ANGB)
* [[Hunter Army Airfield|Hunter AFB]] (transferred to US Army as Hunter AAF)
* [[Larson Air Force Base|Larson AFB]] (closed)
* [[Lincoln Airport (Nebraska)|Lincoln AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Lincoln ANGB)
* [[Little Rock AFB]] (transferred to TAC, later MAC, now AMC)
* [[Mountain Home AFB]] (transferred to TAC<!-- 1966 -->, now ACC)
* [[Naval Air Station Albany|Turner AFB]] (transferred to USN as NAS Albany in 1968, closed 1975)

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:
* [[Davis-Monthan AFB]] (transferred to TAC, now ACC)
* [[Forbes AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Forbes ANGB)
* [[Glasgow Air Force Base|Glasgow AFB]] (closed)
* [[Kincheloe AFB]] (closed)
* [[McCoy AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to USN as [[McCoy AFB|Naval Training Center Orlando McCoy Annex]] until its [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]]-directed closure in 1999)
* [[Ramey AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to USCG as CGAS Borinquen)
* [[Rickenbacker AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Rickenbacker ANGB)
* [[Westover Air Reserve Base|Westover AFB]] (transferred to AFRES, now AFRC, as Westover ARB)
* [[Wright-Patterson AFB]] (tenant SAC presence departed and transferred to Beale AFB; base remained with AFLC, now AFMC)

In 1973, the [[National Emergency Airborne Command Post]], or NEACP, aircraft entered SAC's inventory.  Consisting of four [[Boeing E-4]] aircraft, these highly modified [[Boeing 747]] airframes were assigned to the [[55th Wing|55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]] at [[Offutt AFB]] and were forward deployed as necessary to support the [[National Command Authority (United States)|National Command Authority]].

[[File:Strategic Air Command Information cover 1975.jpg|thumb|upright|right|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,{{r|Lloyd}} and "...SAC's first major exercise in 23 years" was Exercise Global Shield 79.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O3NAAAAAIBAJ&pg=5934,942311&dq=global-shield+strategic-air-command&hl=en|title=Sunday Union - Google News Archive Search|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hefner |first=[first name tbd] |year=2012 |title=The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674059-11-5}}</ref> By 1977, SAC had been pinning its hopes for a new manned strategic bomber in the form of the [[B-1 Lancer|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 [[BMEWS|ballistic missile warning system]] (BMEWS) and all [[Space Surveillance Network]] facilities from the inactivating [[Aerospace Defense Command]] (ADC).<ref name="Winkler">{{cite report |last1=Winkler |first1=David F |last2=Webster |first2=Julie L |date=June 1997 |title=Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |location=Champaign, IL |lccn=97020912 |publisher=U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories |page=48 |access-date=2013-04-23 |archive-date=1 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201202922/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |url-status=dead }}</ref> These activities would later be (transferred to [[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-135 Stratotanker]] force.  Based on the [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]] commercial airliner, the [[KC-10A Extender]] was deployed equipped with improved military avionics, aerial refueling, and satellite communications equipment.{{r|factsheets}}  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 [[LGM-118A Peacekeeper]] ICBM reached SAC in 1986, and the 114 Peacekeepers had a total warhead yield of about 342 megatons.{{r|factsheets}}  This also served to offset the retirement of the obsolescent and maintenance-intensive [[LGM-25C Titan II]] ICBM, the last example of which was deactivated in May 1987.  An additional underground "16,000 square-foot, two-story reinforced concrete" command post for HQ SAC was also constructed at Offutt AFB from 1986 to 1989 from a design by [[Leo A. Daly]], who had designed the adjoining 1957 bunker.{{r|Weitze}} The first [[Rockwell B-1B Lancer]] was also delivered to SAC in 1987.{{r|Baugher}} On 22 November 1988, the [[Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit]], under development as the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB), a so-called [[Black project|"black program"]] since 1979, was officially acknowledged and rolled out for the first time for public display.  The first "[[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 [[Base Realignment and Closure|Carlucci Commission]] planned the closure of:
* [[Mather Air Force Base]], California, an [[Air Training Command|ATC]] undergraduate navigator training (UNT) base which hosted a tenant SAC B-52G / KC-135E bomb wing and a SAC-gained [[Air Force Reserve|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 [[Air National Guard|ANG]] KC-135A air refueling wing

The closures were the beginning of a post-Cold War process that would later become known as [[Base Realignment and Closure]] or BRAC.  Although Mather AFB's navigator training mission would relocate to [[Randolph AFB]], Texas, the Mather B-52G bomber/KC-135A tanker wing would inactivate and the AFRES KC-135 tanker group would relocate to nearby [[McClellan AFB]], relocating again four years later to [[Beale AFB]] when another [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]] process would close McClellan AFB. Concurrently, the Pease AFB bomber/tanker wing would lose its FB-111 aircraft and transfer to [[Whiteman AFB]], Missouri in preparation for transition to the [[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 [[START I]] Treaty's mandated elimination of both the entire B-52G fleet and the inactivation of all [[Minuteman II]] and [[LGM-118 Peacekeeper|Peacekeeper]] 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:

{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
* [[Altus AFB]] (tenant SAC presence disestablished and transferred to AMC, later AETC)
* [[Barksdale AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Beale AFB]] (transferred to ACC)
* [[Carswell AFB]] (transferred to USN as NAS JRB Fort Worth per BRAC)
** AFRES (later AFRC) HQ 10th Air Force, an ACC-gained AF Reserve fighter wing, and an AMC-gained ANG airlift wing remain
* [[Castle AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Dyess AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Eaker AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Ellsworth AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Fairchild AFB]] (transferred to AMC)
* [[F. E. Warren AFB]] (transferred to ACC, then AFSPC, now AFGSC)
* [[Grand Forks AFB]] (transferred to AMC, now ACC)
* [[Griffiss AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
** AFMC Rome Air Development Center and ANG Northeast Air Defense Sector HQ remain
* [[Grissom AFB]] (transferred to AFRC as Grissom ARB)
* [[K. I. Sawyer AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Loring AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Malmstrom AFB]] (transferred to AMC, then AFSPC, now AFGSC)
* [[March AFB]] (transferred to AFRC as March ARB per BRAC)
* [[McConnell AFB]] (transferred to AMC)
* [[Minot AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Offutt AFB]] (transferred to ACC)
* [[Plattsburgh AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Robins AFB]] (tenant Regular AF SAC presence disestablished; base remains an AFMC installation with ACC and ACC-gained ANG flying wings)
* [[Seymour Johnson AFB]] (TAC base transferred to ACC; tenant SAC presence disestablished and SAC-gained tenant AF Reserve presence transferred to AFRC, now gained by AMC)
* [[Whiteman AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Wurtsmith Air Force Base|Wurtsmith AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
{{Div col end}}

On 1 July 1989, the [[1st Combat Evaluation Group]] reporting directly to SAC headquarters was split with most HQ 1CEVG organizations transferring to SAC HQ (e.g., the Command Instrument Flight Division) and RBS personnel, equipment, and [[:Category:Strategic Air Command radar stations|radar stations]] becoming the [[1st Electronic Combat Range Group]]. Airborne NEACP alerts ended in 1990{{r|GlobalSecurity}} and during 1991's [[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 ALCM]]s) 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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stratofortress.org/history.htm |title=B52 Stratofortress Association |publisher=Stratofortress.org |access-date=2013-07-21}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/spotlight.asp?id=123008783 |title=Strategic Air Command alert ends |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130219012449/http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/spotlight.asp?id=123008783 |archive-date=2013-02-19 |publisher=Af.mil |access-date=2013-07-21 }}</ref> and placing said aircraft on quick reaction ground alert.<ref>[[George H. W. Bush|Bush, George H. W.]] (27 September 1991) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20035 Address to the Nation on Reducing United States and Soviet Nuclear Weapons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816103710/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20035 |date=16 August 2016 }}</ref>

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 [[Tactical Air Command]] aircraft, to the newly established [[Air Combat Command]] (ACC).  The newly established [[Air Mobility Command]] (AMC) inherited most of SAC's [[KC-135 Stratotanker]] aircraft and the entire [[KC-10 Extender]] aerial refueling tanker force, while some KC-135s were reassigned directly to [[United States Air Forces in Europe|USAFE]] and [[Pacific Air Forces|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 [[Air Force Space Command]] (AFSPC), while manned bombers remained in ACC.  USAF nuclear forces in ACC and AFSPC were then combined with the [[United States Navy]]'s [[Fleet Ballistic Missile]] submarine forces to form the [[United States Strategic Command]] ([[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-2 Spirit]] and [[B-52 Stratofortress]], was transferred to the newly established [[Air Force Global Strike Command]] ([[AFGSC]]), while 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afgsc.af.mil/News/story/id/123445660/ |title=AF realigns B-1, LRS-B under Air Force Global Strike Command |access-date=2015-08-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619101823/http://www.afgsc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123445660 |archive-date=19 June 2015 }}</ref>

== Culture and legacy ==
The Strategic Air Command left a lasting cultural impact in addition to its military legacy. The most prominent slogan associated with SAC is the official motto, “Peace Is Our Profession.”<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Correll |first=John T. |date=2013-03-01 |title=SAC's Half Century |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0313sac/#:~:text=SAC's%20slogan,%20%E2%80%9CPeace%20Is%20Our,forgive%20is%20not%20SAC%20policy.%E2%80%9D |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=Air & Space Forces Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> This phrase captured the command's role in maintaining peace through deterrence during the Cold War. Another unofficial slogan became part of SAC lore: “To err is human; to forgive is not SAC policy.”<ref name=":0" /> This saying reflected the high standards and strict discipline within SAC, where precision and accountability were paramount due to the critical nature of its mission.  Additional, unofficial slogans include "Peace Through Strength" and "Peace Through Superior Firepower".{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

== Commemoration and new commands ==
The [[Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum|SAC Museum]] located adjacent to Offutt AFB was moved in 1998<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.sasmuseum.com/about-us/ |work=Strategic Air & Space Museum |publisher=sasmuseum.com |access-date=30 November 2013 |archive-date=19 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131119231653/http://www.sasmuseum.com/about-us/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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<ref>[http://www.saceliteguard.com/ SAC Elite Guard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107034200/http://saceliteguard.com/ |date=7 January 2014 }}. SAC Elite Guard. Retrieved 2013-09-18.</ref> and the Strategic Air Command Memorial Amateur Radio Club.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacmarc.org|title=SACMARC|work=sacmarc.org|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> After the Cold War, SAC histories included a 1990 almanac and a 2006 organizational history.<ref>[[Norman Polmar|Polmar, Norman]], ''Strategic Air Command: People, Aircraft, and Missiles'', 2nd Edition, Nautical & Aviation Publishing, 1990, {{ISBN|9780933852778}}.<br />
Mixer, Ronald E., ''Strategic Air Command, An Organizational History'', Battermix Publishing Company, 2006.</ref>

In 2009, the [[Air Force Global Strike Command]] (AFGSC) was activated with the lineage of Strategic Air Command.<ref name=Factsheet>{{cite web|title=AIR FORCE GLOBAL STRIKE COMMAND (USAF)|url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15047|publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]]|access-date=9 November 2013|date=17 July 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718071848/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15047|archive-date=18 July 2012}}</ref> AFGSC, headquartered at [[Barksdale AFB]], Louisiana, is one of two USAF component commands assigned to [[United States Strategic Command]] (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 ==
* Established as '''Continental Air Forces''' on 13 December 1944<ref name="strategic-air-command.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.strategic-air-command.com/|title=Home Page |work=strategic-air-command.com|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref>
: Redesignated: '''Strategic Air Command''' on 21 March 1946<ref name="strategic-air-command.com"/>
* Replaced as a specified command by a new unified combatant command, '''[[United States Strategic Command]]''' ([[USSTRATCOM]]), on 1 June 1992;<ref>{{cite web | url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42077.pdf | title=The Unified Command Plan and Combatant Commands: Background and Issues for Congress | date=3 January 2013 | first=Andrew | last=Feickert | publisher=Congressional Research Service | access-date=15 January 2019 | archive-date=12 April 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412124427/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42077.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> concurrently disestablished as a USAF major command (MAJCOM) same date

;Components
{{For|SAC aircraft/systems and wings|Strategic Air Command equipment|Strategic Air Command wings}}
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break|width=50%}}
* [[Second Air Force]]: 21 Mar 1946 (from CAF) – 30 Mar 1946; 1 Nov 1949 – 1 Jan 1975
* [[Eighth Air Force]]: 7 Jun 1946 – 1 Jun 1992
* [[Fifteenth Air Force]]: 31 Mar 1946 – 1 Jun 1992
* [[Sixteenth Air Force]]: 1 Jul 1957 – 15 Apr 1966
* [[IX Troop Carrier Command]]: 21 Mar 1946 (from CAF) – 31 Mar 1946
{{Col-break|width=50%}}

;; Air Divisions:
* [[1st Air Division]] (later, 1st Missile Division; 1 Strategic Aerospace Division): 15 Apr 1955 – 20 May 1956; 1 Jan 1958 – 1 Sep 1988
* [[3d Air Division]]: 18 Jun 1954 – 1 Apr 1970; 1 Jan 1975 – 31 Jan 1982
* [[5th Air Division]]: 14 Jan 1951 – 1 Jul 1957
* [[7th Air Division]]: 20 Mar 1951 – 30 Jun 1965; 1 Jul 1978 – 31 Jan 1982
* [[21st Air Division]]: 16 Feb 1951 – 8 Apr 1952; 8 Apr – 16 Jul 1952
* [[42d Air Division]]: 2 Mar 1951 – 8 Jan 1958; 15 Jul 1959 – 9 Jul 1991
* [[58th Air Division]]: 1 Mar – 16 Oct 1948
* [[311th Air Division]]: 31 Mar 1947 – 1 Nov 1949.
{{col-end}}

;Overseas components:
[[Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom]] was among the command's largest overseas concentrations of forces, with additional forces under SAC's [[16th Air Force]] at air bases in North Africa, Spain and Turkey during the 1950s and 1960s.

[[List of USAF Provisional Wings assigned to Strategic Air Command|SAC "Provisional" wings]] were also located in [[Kadena AB]], Okinawa and [[U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield]] / [[U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield|U-Tapao AB]], Thailand during the [[Vietnam War]]

SAC also maintained bomber, tanker, and/or reconnaissance aircraft assets at the former [[Ramey AFB]], Puerto Rico in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and at [[Andersen AFB]], Guam; [[RAF Mildenhall]], [[RAF Fairford]] and [[RAF Alconbury]] in the United Kingdom; [[Moron AB]], Spain; [[Lajes Field]], Azores (Portugal); [[Diego Garcia]], BIOT; and the former [[NAS Keflavik]], Iceland through the 1990s.

SAC also conducted operations from [[RAF Fairford]], [[RAF Alconbury]] and [[RAF Mildenhall]] in the United Kingdom, [[Moron AB]] in Spain, [[Lajes Field]] in the Azores (Portugal), [[RAF Akrotiri]] in Cyprus, [[Incirlik AB]] in Turkey, [[Diego Garcia]] in the [[British Indian Ocean Territory]], and from multiple air bases in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates during the first [[Gulf War]] (Operations [[Desert Shield]] and [[Desert Storm]]) from 1990 to 1991.

== See also ==
*[[List of commanders-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Baugher>{{cite web |last=Baugher |first=Joseph F. |author-link=Joe Baugher |title=Welcome to Joe Baugher's Home Page! |url=http://www.joebaugher.com/ |publisher=JoeBaugher.com |access-date=5 June 2013 |archive-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614203943/http://www.joebaugher.com/ |url-status=dead }} '''Individual aircraft/model pages''': [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/newb2_1.html B-2A] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120041317/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/newb2_1.html |date=20 January 2018 }}, [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b47.html B-47] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723051250/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b47.html |date=23 July 2011 }}, [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b36.html B-36] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318004022/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b36.html |date=18 March 2012 }}, [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b52.html B-52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429183542/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b52.html |date=29 April 2013 }} ([http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b52_9.html B-52D)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202174128/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b52_9.html |date=2 December 2011 }}</ref>

<ref name=Boyne>{{citation |author-link=Walter J. Boyne|last=Boyne |first=Walter J |title=Beyond The Wild Blue: A History of the United States Air Force 1947–1997 |place=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1997}}</ref>

<ref name=Clark>{{cite report |last=Clark |first=Major Rita F. |date=1 May 1990 |title=SAC Missile Chronology 1939–1988 |url=http://www.siloworld.net/SAC/SAC%20Missile%20Chronology-6-4.pdf |publisher=Office of the Historian, HQ. SAC, Offutt AFB |access-date=2013-09-26 |quote=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.}}</ref>

<ref name=factsheets>{{cite web |title=Air Force Fact Sheets |url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/ |format=search page |publisher=USAF website }}: [https://archive.today/20130626170256/http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=109 KC-10], [https://archive.today/20120629083158/http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=110 KC-135], [http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5762 LGM-118A Peacekeeper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423200731/http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5762 |date=23 April 2013 }}, [http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=334 SA-2 SAM] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404193745/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=334 |date=4 April 2013 }}</ref>

<ref name=Fisher>{{cite report |last1=Fisher |first1=Lt Col David R. |last2=Roig-Compton |first2=Captain Aida E. |date=1 May 1990 |orig-year=rewritten from 1976 report |title=From Snark to Peacekeeper: A Pictorial History of Strategic Air Command Missiles |url=http://www.siloworld.net/DOWNLOADS/Snark%20to%20Peacekeeper%20Reduced.pdf |publisher=Office of the Historian, HQ. SAC, Offutt AFB. NE. 1990. |access-date=2013-09-26 |quote=Project "Added Effort", the Air Force nickname for the programmed phaseout of all first-generation ICBMs, began on 1 May 1964 when the first Atlas D's were taken off alert at the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron, Vandenberg AFB, California. ... SAC bubmitted a requirement to the Air Staff on 12 February 1959 calling for the first mobile Minuteman unit to be operational no later than January 1973....tests to be conducted, nicknamed "Operation Big Star." ... The Mobile Minuteman concept, Operation Big Star, test train rolls through the mountains of Utah in 1960.}}</ref>

<ref name=GlobalSecurity>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/agency/sac.htm |title=Strategic Air Command |publisher=Global Security |last=Pike |first=John |date=24 July 2011 |access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref>

<ref name=HS-61>{{cite report |date=c. 1957 |title=History of Strategic Air Command: Chapter III Operations and Training |url=http://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3_Documents/USAF/SAC_Historic_Study_61_Partial.htm |format=partial transcript at AlternateWars.com |volume=Historical Study No. 61 |publisher=Historical Division, SAC Office of Information |access-date=2013-09-27 |archive-date=2 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002120320/http://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3_Documents/USAF/SAC_Historic_Study_61_Partial.htm |url-status=dead }} Following are the bases assigned on 21 March:

* [[Abilene Army Air Field]], Texas<!-- (sub-base of Fort Worth Army Air Field, Texas)-->
* [[Alamogordo Army Air Field]], New Mexico<!-- -->
* [[Andrews Field]], Maryland<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Boiling Field)-->
* Arlington Auxiliary #4<!-- (satellite of La Junta Army Air Field, Colorado)-->
* [[Avon Park Army Air Field]], Florida
* [[Bolling Field]], Washington, D.C. 
* Caddo Mills Auxiliary #1<!-- (satellite of Majors Field, Texas)-->
* Cash, Texas, Auxiliary #2<!-- (satellite of Majors Field, Texas)-->
* [[Castle Field]], California
* Center Auxiliary #2, Parma, New Mexico<!-- (satellite of Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico)-->
* [[Chico Army Air Field]], California<!-- (sub-base of Castle Field, California)-->
* [[Clovis Army Air Field]], New Mexico
* [[Davis-Monthan Field]], Arizona
* [[Deming Army Air Field]], New Mexico<!-- (sub-base of Alamogordo 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<!-- (satellite of Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico) (technical ex post facto possession only; Fort Sumner Army Airfield was reassigned to the Corps of Engineers 5 March 1946) -->
* [[Fort Worth Army Air Field]], Texas
* [[Geiger Field]], Washington<!-- (and Seven Mile Gunnery Range Auxiliary)-->
* [[Gowen Army Air Field]], Idaho<!-- (sub-base of Walla Walla Army Air Field, Washington)-->
* [[Grand Island Army Air Field]], Nebraska
* [[Great Bend Army Air Field]], Kansas<!-- (sub-base of Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas)-->
* [[Greensboro-Highpoint Army Air Field]], North Carolina<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Greensboro Oversea Replacement Depot (ORD))-->
* Greensboro Oversea Replacement Depot (ORD), North Carolina<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Headquarters Strategic Air Command)-->
* [[Grenier Army Air Field]], New Hampshire
* [[Harvard Army Air Field]], Nebraska<!-- (sub-base of Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska)-->
* [[Colorado Springs Tent Camp|Headquarters Area]], Colorado Springs, Colorado
* [[Kearney Army Air Field]], Nebraska
* Kearns Oversea Replacement Depot (ORD), Utah<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Headquarters Strategic Air Command)-->
* [[Kirtland Army Air Field]], New Mexico
* [[La Junta Army Air Field]], Colorado<!-- (sub-base of Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico)-->
* Las Animas Auxiliary #2, Colorado<!-- (satellite of La Junta Army Air Field, Colorado)-->
* <!--{{Col-break|width=50%}}-->
* [[MacDill Army Air Field]], Tampa, Florida
* [[Majors Field]], Texas<!-- (satellite of Abilene Army Air Field, Texas)-->
* [[McCook Army Air Field]], Nebraska<!-- (sub-base of Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska)-->
* [[Mountain Home Army Air Field]], Idaho<!-- (sub-base of Walla Walla Army Air Field, Washington)-->
* [[Oscoda Army Air Field]], Michigan<!-- (sub-base /range of Selfridge Army Air Field, Michigan)-->
* [[Peterson Field]], Colorado
* [[Pratt Army Air Field]], Kansas<!-- (sub-base of Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas)-->
* [[Pueblo Army Air Base]], Colorado<!-- (sub-base of Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico)-->
* [[Rapid City Army Air Field]], South Dakota
* [[Richmond Army Air Base]], Virginia<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Bolling Field, D. C. )-->
* Rocky Ford Auxiliary #1, Colorado<!-- (satellite of La Junta Army Air Field, Colorado)-->
* [[Roswell Army Air Base]], New Mexico
* Roswell Auxiliary #3, New Mexico, 
* [[Salt Lake City Army Air Field]], Utah<!-- (under command jurisdiction of Kearns ORD)-->
* [[Selfridge Army Air Field]], Michigan
* [[Seymour-Johnson Field]], North Carolina
* [[Sioux City Army Air Field]], Iowa<!-- (sub-base of Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas)-->
* [[Sioux Falls Army Air Field]], South Dakota
* [[Smoky Hill Army Air Field]], Salina, Kansas
* South Auxiliary #1, Deming, New Mexico<!-- (satellite of Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico)-->
* South Sulphur Auxiliary #3, Texas<!-- (satellite of Majors Field, Texas)-->
* [[Tonopah Army Air Field]], Nevada<!-- (sub-base/range of Castle Field, California)-->
* [[Walla Walla Army Air Field]], Washington.</ref>

<ref name=Lloyd>{{cite book |last=Lloyd |year=2000 |edition=1st |title=A Cold War Legacy: A Tribute to Strategic Air Command |publisher=Pictorial Histories Publishing Co |isbn=1-575100-52-5}}</ref>

<ref name=Mueller>{{cite report |last=Mueller |first=Robert |year=1989 |title=Air Force Bases |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330255/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-026.pdf |volume=I: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 |publisher=Office of Air Force History |isbn=0-912799-53-6 |page=600 |access-date=2013-08-15}}</ref>

<ref name=Rosenberg>{{cite journal |last=Rosenberg |first=David A |date=June 1979 |title=American Atomic Strategy and the Hydrogen Bomb Decision |jstor=1894674 |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=66 |number=1 |pages=62–87 |doi=10.2307/1894674 }}</ref>

<ref name=SAC1969>{{cite report |volume=Historical Summary 116 |title=History of the Strategic Air Command: 1969 |url=http://minotb52ufo.com/archives/strategic_air_command/sac_hist_fy69_vol1_ch1.pdf |publisher=Office of Command History |access-date=2013-08-26 |quote=[from SAC] transfer, on 1 July 1968, of Homestead AFB [and] Altus AFB ... The definition of [[CONUS]] was that used for the USAF program document, PD-70-3: the contiguous states... cuts were directed by USAF...to keep assignments within the strength and man-year ceilings established by the ... Secretary of Defense ... The overall reduction, directed by USAF, was known as [[Project 693]] ...<sup>77</sup> ... the [[18th Strategic Aerospace Division]] (SAD) was discontinued on 2 July.<!--p. 21--> ... SAC had 64 detachments at the end of FY-69, an increase of nine, offset by a reduction of three. One discontinued was Detachment 4, [[1st Combat Evaluation Group]] (CEG), [[Radar Bomb Scoring Division|Oronogo, Missouri]]. It was the second detachment of the 1CEG to be inactivated in 1968.<sup>100</sup> ... Scoring activity stopped on 15 December, the equipment was moved,<sup>105</sup> and the detachment inactivated on 25 January.<sup>106</sup> The other two reductions were Detachments 3 and 19, 3902nd Support Squadron, at Altus and Homestead AFBs, where Manpower Evaluation Teams were no longer required. ... 100. Det 13, Ellisville, Miss, discontinued 2 Jun 68; Hist SAC, Jan–Jun 68, pp. 14–17.}}</ref>

<ref name=Tillman>{{cite book |last=Tillman |first=Barrett |title=LeMay |url=https://archive.org/details/lemay00till |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lemay00till/page/94 94]|isbn=9781403971357 }}</ref>

<ref name=Wack>{{cite book |last=Wack |first=Fred J| year=1992 |title=The Secret Explorers: Saga of the 46th/72nd Reconnaissance Squadrons |publisher=Seeger's Print |asin=B0006EZ8GQ}}</ref>

<ref name=Weitze>{{cite report |last=Weitze |first=Karen J. |date=November 1999 |title=Cold War Infrastructure for Strategic Air Command: The Bomber Mission |url=http://cryptocomb.org/Cold%20War%20Infrastructure%20for%20Strategic%20Air%20Command-The%20Bomber%20Mission.pdf |publisher=United States Army Corps of Engineers |access-date=2013-08-15 |quote=The first six B-36s arrived at [[Sidi Slimane Air Base|Sidi Slimane]], another SAC base built in [[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}}</ref>

<ref name=Worden>[http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA338755] {{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Rita F. |author2=Herman F. Martin |year=1988 |title=Strategic Air Command: Unit Mission and History Summaries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-z0WKwZvA8C&pg=PP1 |location=Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. |publisher=Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command |oclc=19111731}} [https://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3_Documents/USAF/SAC_Unit_Histories_1988/SAC_Unit_Histories_1988.htm Text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324000334/https://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3_Documents/USAF/SAC_Unit_Histories_1988/SAC_Unit_Histories_1988.htm |date=24 March 2022 }} at alternatewars.com.
* {{Cite book |last=Deaile |first=Melvin G. |year=2007 |title=Always at War: Organizational Culture in Strategic Air Command, 1946–62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_tQDwAAQBAJ |series=Transforming War |location=Annapolis, Md. |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=9781682472484 |oclc=1085029166}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hopkins |first1=J.C. |last2=Goldberg |first2=Sheldon A. |year=1986 |title=The Development of the Strategic Air Command, 1946–1986: The Fortieth Anniversary History |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002585660 |publisher=Office of the Historian, HQ. SAC}}
* {{Cite report |title=Peace...Is Our Profession: Alert Operations and the Strategic Air Command, 1957–1991 |url=http://www.siloworld.net/DOWNLOADS/Alert%20Operations%20and%20SAC%201957-1991%20rEDUCED.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825212932/http://www.siloworld.net/DOWNLOADS/Alert%20Operations%20and%20SAC%201957-1991%20rEDUCED.pdf |archive-date=25 August 2016 |url-status=live |location=Offut Air Force Base, Neb. |publisher=Office of the Historian, Headquarters Strategic Air Command |date=7 December 1991}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Strategic Air Command}}
{{External media
| image1 = [https://books.google.com/books?id=KEvkvpHrLboC&dq=%22Titan+II+launching%22&pg=PA43 Image sequence for Titan II launch]
| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLnnxp4Mhk First Titan II silo launch]
| video2 = [https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.52240 High Strategy]
| video3 = [https://archive.org/details/AirForceSpecialFilmProject416powerOfDecision Power of Decision]
| video4 = [https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.20791 Semiannual Film Report]
| video5 = [https://archive.org/details/AirForceSpecialFilmProject1236sacComnandPost SAC Command Post]
| video6 = [https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.26474 The Strength of SAC]
| video7 = [https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.51341 The Global Shield]
| video8 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZfLY77v4U Modern Marvels film]
}}
* {{Internet Archive film | AirForceSpecialFilmProject1236sacComnandPost/1236_pt1.mp4gov.archives.arc.2569725 | Air Force Special Film Project 1236, "SAC Command Post" }}

{{Strategic Air Command}}
{{US Air Force navbox}}

[[Category:Strategic Air Command| ]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]<!--HQ established at Bolling Field-->
[[Category:1992 disestablishments in the United States]]<!--HQ disestablished at Offutt AFB-->
[[Category:Bombardment units and formations of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:Bomber aircraft commands (military formations)]]
[[Category:Cold War in popular culture]]
[[Category:Major commands of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1992]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1946]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the United States in the Cold War]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Force Commands]]