6 bases considered for Global Strike Command - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

6 bases considered for Global Strike Command

The Air Force announced Wednesday the six bases where officials are considering stationing the permanent headquarters of Global Strike Command:

* Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

* F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.

* Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

* Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

* Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

* Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

Five of the six bases have either nuclear bombers or intercontinental nuclear missiles located on their bases. The sixth, Offutt, is the site of U.S. Strategic Command’s headquarters. Minot is the only base that has both nuclear capable bombers — B-52 Stratofortresses — and ICBMs.

Officials hope to make their choice by late spring or early summer, according to Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston, assistant chief of staff, strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.

They will pick the final location based on the availability of requisite expertise, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, transportation and access, communications and bandwidth, and security to support the Global Strike Command headquarters, he said in an interview.

"Minot is unique in that it has both missions, but I don't think that I would prejudge that one base is ahead of any other," Alston added.

Air Force officials said they only considered bases with nuclear missions during the nomination process.

“Co-locating the headquarters on an installation where there are significant operational functions associated with nuclear forces will provide positive synergies for this new command,” Alston said in a press release.

Global Strike Command will take control of all the Air Force’s nuclear missions inside the U.S. as part of the largest organizational shakeup since Strategic Air Command was disbanded in the early 1990s. Its creation was announced in November 2008 as part of the Air Force’s Nuclear Roadmap designed to reinvigorate the service’s nuclear enterprise after it was embarrassed by two errors involving nuclear weapons.

The provisional headquarters were stood up at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., on Jan. 12 with plans to stand up the permanent headquarters by September.