AFA Air and Space Conference Speech - 13 Sep 10

Lt Gen Frank Klotz, AFGSC Commander

Air Force Global Strike Command has come a long way in a relatively short period of
time. When the Command was activated on Aug. 7, 2009 at Barksdale Air Force Base,
La., there were only 49 permanent party personnel on board and roughly the same
amount of people on temporary duty working at the headquarters. It has been said that
the stand-up of Global Strike Command is similar to that of the Eighth Air Force during
World War II. In February of 1942, Eighth Air Force set up their headquarters at
Wycombe Abbey Girls School in High Wycombe, England. The school was very similar
to a medieval castle and they had no telephones, no office equipment and because
there was no heat, it was cold and damp. This was very similar to the challenges Global
Strike Command faced at Barksdale Air Force Base last August We had no furniture or
computers but we did have heat because it is Louisiana in the summertime.

Now, just a year later, we have nearly 750 people working at the headquarters. We’re a
fully functional Command with the most up-to-date communications and computer
capabilities thanks to our host unit, the 2nd Bomb Wing. We’ve assumed responsibility
for the Nation’s ICBMs and long-range capable bombers as well as the 23,000 Total
Force Airmen and civilians who operate, maintain, secure and support them.

I’ll now cover some of the details of our first year as the Air Force’s newest Major
Command.

On Dec. 1, 2009, we assumed responsibility for the intercontinental ballistic mission.

The men and women of the 20th Air Force and its three missile wings continued, as
they have for the past 50 plus years, to provide forces that are key to nuclear
deterrence and global stability. On any typical day, we have approximately 1,100 20th
Air Force personnel going to work for the United States Strategic Command under the
command of General Chilton. Through their efforts, the daily alert rate of the Minuteman
III missile almost invariably exceeds 99 percent. This is a phenomenal achievement
given the age of the weapons system and the vast and expansive size of our three
missile complexes.

One reason that our ICBMs are able to maintain this high degree of readiness is
because of an extensive testing and evaluation program led by Global Strike
Command’s 576th Flight Test Squadron located at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

In June of this year, the 576th Flight Test Squadron experienced its busiest test month
in living memory. First, it conducted a Simulated Electronic Launch Minuteman, or
SELM for short, at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. On
this particular test, two launch control centers at six launch facilities or missile silos are
isolated from the rest of the squadron. Over a two-day period, the test commands are
transmitted from the launch control centers and then from U.S. Strategic Command’s
Airborne Command Post to test the capabilities of the six members to receive and
properly process critical commands under a variety of conditions. The particular
attention to detail and safety are paramount throughout the entire SELM test. Later that
same month, the 576th conducted not one but two successful launches of the
Minuteman III out of Vandenberg AFB to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific. Secretary of
the Air Force Mike Donley was on hand for the first of these two launches, which turned
out to be the 200th test launch of the Minuteman III ICBM.

Last week, the 576th conducted another SELM test, this time at the 341st Missile Wing
at Malmstrom AFB in Montana. Just two days from now (Wednesday), the 576th is
scheduled to launch Glory Trip 202, or the 202nd such test of the Minuteman III. This
particular mission is really unique in that it is the latest of two extended range flight tests
designed to analyze the weapons system’s performance over distances longer than
possible from the squadron at Vandenberg.

In addition to the various operational test programs, we continue to carry out several
sustainment and modernization programs designed to ensure readiness of the
Minuteman III force for many years to come. We are currently equipping the missile
alert and launch facilities with new environmental control systems, new diesel
generators, as well as new electrical equipment, new batteries and new battery
chargers. These measures will not only extend the service life of the Minuteman
system, but it will also enhance its maintainability and reduce its cost of ownership.

Equally important, the Air Force is taking significant steps to enhance security in every
facet of the ICBM system. Progress continues on deploying a modified personnel hatch
designed to “button-up” a missile silo more quickly in case of an emergency or attack.
Programs are also underway to install security surveillance cameras at all the remote
launch facilities as well as all of the missile alert facilities. This measure will provide an
immediate visual assessment capability of any anomalous situation thus providing some
situational awareness to our responding security forces.

Currently, our three missile wings operate the UN-1N “Huey” helicopter. This platform
has been instrumental in the security of our missile fields and convoy operations since
the 1970s. The Huey is also a fixture in the civil search and rescue missions around our
northern-tier bases. Since the transfer of forces on Dec. 1, Global Strike Command’s
Hueys have taken part in 10 search and rescues and have been credited with four
saves. In fact, over the Labor Day weekend, Blade 48, a helicopter crew assigned to the
341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, rescued an injured hiker in the Beaverhead
National Forest, about two hours flight time away from the base. Blade 48 was able to
extract the injured hiker from the difficult mountainous terrain using their 170-foot hoist
and promptly fly him to safety for medical attention.

On Feb. 1, Global Strike Command assumed responsibility for the Eighth Air Force and
the long-range, nuclear-capable bomber mission. The Eighth Air Force is headquartered
at Barksdale AFB, and exercises command over the two B-52 wings, one at Barksdale,
the other at Minot AFB, N.D., as well as the B-2 wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo.

About a year ago, the Air Force reactivated the 69th Bomb Squadron to become the
second operational B-52 squadron at Minot AFB, thus mirroring Barksdale, which
already had two operational B-52 squadrons. The iron flow or transfer of additional B-
52s was complete this spring and Minot now has 28 total assigned aircraft. In addition to
the increased number of jets, Minot also has seen a manning plus-up of operators,
maintainers and support personnel. This new operational B-52 squadron will help
balance the workload between nuclear deterrence and conventional missions – not only
at Minot, but across the entire B-52 fleet.

Since March 2004, Eighth Air Force B-2 and B-52 bombers have been deployed to
Andersen AFB, Guam to provide a “continuous bomber presence” as part of U.S.
Pacific Command’s Theater Security Strategy. Every one of Global Strike Command’s
bomb wings has supported this mission since becoming part of our new Command.
Right now, Airmen from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB are generating and flying six
B-52s as “presence” missions throughout the Pacific under the command of General
North. These men and women are demonstrating the flexibility bombers provide our
National leaders by deploying forward and promoting security and stability in a region of
vital interest to the United States, thereby assuring our friends and allies while deterring
potential adversaries.

As we continue to support our joint partners in today’s fight, we must also ensure that
our weapons systems remain safe and effective. As is the case with our ICBMs, this
requires a vigorous operational test and evaluation program for the bombers. While we
do not own the bomber’s test mission, Global Strike Command aircrews and ground
crews are heavily involved. In April, a back-to-back-to-back “triple-shot” Air Launch
Cruise Missile test launch at the Utah Test Range was a tremendous success. This
event required exceptional coordination between the 20th Bomb Squadron from the 2nd
Bomb Wing, the 17th Munitions Squadron of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center,
and the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron from the 53rd Wing of Air Force Warfare
Center.
B-2 crews from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB are the lead in conducting test
on the new Massive Ordinance Penetrator or MOP, which is designed to destroy hard
and deeply buried targets. The Massive Ordinance Penetrator is appropriately named
as it carries a “massive” 30,000-pound explosive payload. It is so large that it can only
be carried by our heavy bombers. Once operational, the MOP will provide another
option for theater commanders as they seek to achieve their mission objectives.

Airmen at Whiteman and industry partners are also in the process of upgrading the
radar on the B-2. The Radar Modification Program will shift the radar to a new
frequency band while maintaining “good as today” performance. Global Strike
Command oversaw the nuclear certification of the new software, which is now installed
on five jets and will be installed fleet wide by the summer of 2012.

GLOBAL STRIKE COMMAND HEADQUARTERS

While work at our missile and bomber wings continues at a fast and furious pace, we
have also been establishing our headquarters. As I said in the beginning, on our
activation day, we had only 49 permanent party assigned to Air Force Global Strike
Command. Today, the headquarters has nearly 750 permanent party on board and by
the end of the month we should be right around 800. Now at the risk of doing math in
public… that means that by the end of the month, Global Strike Command will have
hired about 750 people in less than 14 months.

In Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, he said one of the keys to building a high-
performance organization is to get the right people on the bus and make sure they’re in
the right seat. To be honest, I thought this might be difficult when we started out, but I
have been pleasantly surprised. People with extraordinary skills and credentials have
been very interested in being a part of this new Command. Several factors account for
our success in recruiting high-quality talent. First, many people we hire have had a life-
long passion for our nuclear mission. They too observed the concerns with the time,
attention and resources devoted to this critical mission after the Cold War. Now that it’s
once again a top priority, they are eager to set new things right. A second reason
people have been excited to come to Global Strike Command is the opportunity to be a
part of something new. Usually, when you’re hired into an organization, it’s fully staffed
up and the necessary policies and procedures are already in place. In the first year at
Air Force Global Strike Command, virtually every person hired into the Command was
the first ever to hold his or her position and she or he had a unique challenge of defining
roles and responsibilities from scratch. As a result, everyone in the Command
[headquarters] is a pioneer and has a high impact on the Command and its activities,
not just now but for many years to come. For the world-class individuals we sought to
hire, it has proven to be an enormously powerful incentive.

Once we started getting the right people into the right jobs, we had to start providing the
right guidance for the Command primarily in the form of Command-specific supplements
to Air Force instructions. We started, of course, with supplements provided by Space
Command for missile-related activities and supplements provided by Air Combat
Command for bomber-related activities. We thought, perhaps in a naïve way, that this
task would be as simple as using the universal “find and replace” function by
substituting Global Strike Command for Space Command or Air Combat Command
wherever found. We found that it would be much harder than that. We needed to
incorporate findings, lessons learned, and new Air Force policies and procedures that
were adopted following the highly publicized nuclear incidents that led to the creation of
Global Strike Command. Moreover, we’re also committed to ensuring all MAJCOM-level
guidance is provided in a very clear and an unambiguous fashion to the governing Air
Force, Department of Defense and CJCS Instructions to Presidential directives and
ultimately public law and international treaties. We were determined to find what we
were supposed to do, why, and by what authority. We’ve identified 195 documents that
had to be written, some of them several hundred pages long. That’s a lot of work for a
staff of only 50 on the onset that only grew gradually. As of today, 175 have been
published and on the website and the remainder should be complete by the end of this
month.

In this first year of our existence, Global Strike Command did not have control of our
own checkbook since money cannot be transferred within the Department of Defense
during a fiscal year. We had to work hand and hand with Air Combat Command and Air
Force Space Command on all current money issues involving our bombers, missiles
and installations. During the Fiscal Year 12 Program of Memorandum, or FY12 POM,
AFGSC was flight following the efforts of Space Command and Air Combat Command.
Our Airmen were embedded with Space Command and Air Combat Command
programmers as the POM was formulated. The outcome of the FY12 POM exceeded
my expectations. It was a showcase of teamwork and cooperation between the three
Major Commands and the Air Staff… and we made great strides in strengthening the
nuclear enterprise in the process. At Global Strike Command, we used the FY12 POM
process to train a team of experts who are now focused, ready and eager to dive into
the fiscal year 13 POM preparation, which will be our first solo programming effort from
start to finish.

Our Airmen have accomplished remarkable work in a short period of time in the stand
up of Air Force Global Strike Command. In only 13 months, we have stood up a Major
Command headquarters, completed hundreds of publications, helped develop the FY12
POM, assumed the ICBM and nuclear-capable bomber missions and completed
countless other actions all while driving toward Full Operational Capability. On Oct. 1,
the first day of the new fiscal year, I intend to report to our Secretary of the Air Force
that Air Force Global Strike Command has achieved full operational capability.

It’s been a great honor to work with the men and women of Air Force Global Strike
Command over the past year as we stood up the first completely new Command in 27
years. I’ve very proud of our accomplishments and look forward to the challenges
ahead. As we march ever closer to Full Operational Capability, we remain focused on
our special trust and responsibility for the most powerful weapons in our Nation’s
arsenal and we do our utmost every single day to ensure mission success as we deter
potential adversaries and assure our allies.