Strategic Air Command - SAC 56 Year History

Описание: The Strategic Air Command, or SAC 1946-1992, was the air command in the United States Air Force that was chiefly responsible for the deployment and maintenance of nuclear armed bombers and missiles during the Cold War. This command finally stood down in 1992 with the recognition that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States' chief nuclear-armed adversary, had itself disbanded.

Strategic Air Command (SAC) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command. Established in 1946 under the United States Army Air Forces, its mission was the command and control of the United States' land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strategic nuclear arsenal.

SAC also controlled the infrastructure necessary to support the strategic bomber and ICBM operations, such as aerial refueling tanker aircraft to refuel the bombers in flight, strategic reconnaissance aircraft, command post aircraft, and, until 1957, fighter escorts.

It was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment were absorbed by Air Combat Command and Air Mobility Command. Its direct successor, Air Force Global Strike Command was activated on 7 August 2009 to meet the needs of the Air Force to develop and provide combat-ready forces for nuclear deterrence and global strike operation.