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‘World is a dangerous place’: US prepares to put B-52 nuclear bombers on high alert</h1>
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<time class="date date_article-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.230769em; padding: 0px; display: block; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 1.3em; white-space: nowrap;">Published time: 23 Oct, 2017 07:24</time><time class="date date_article-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.230769em; padding: 0px; display: block; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 1.3em; white-space: nowrap;">Edited
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FILE PHOTO: Bombs wait to be loaded on to a B-52H long range bomber (BACKGROUND), part of the US Eight Air Force, at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana © Pual J. Richards / AFP</div>
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<div class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="https://www.rt.com/usa/407494-nuclear-b52-bombers-alert/#.We3kRzAK9e0.facebook" data-title="‘World is a dangerous place’: US prepares to put B-52 nuclear bombers on high alert" data-description="US Air Force is renovating Cold War-era launchpads to put B-52 bombers on 24-hour alert for potential nuclear conflict, for the first time since 1991." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both;">
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The US Air Force is renovating Cold War-era launch pads as it prepares to put its strategic bombers on constant 24-hour alert to engage in potential nuclear conflict for the first time since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.</div>
<div class="article__text js-mediator-article text" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.4em; font-family: Archivo, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class=""><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“The world is a dangerous place and we’ve got folks that are talking openly about use of nuclear weapons,”</em> Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein <a href="http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2017/10/exclusive-us-preparing-put-nuclear-bombers-back-24-hour-alert/141957/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; color: rgb(4, 79, 170); text-decoration: none;" class="">told</a> US
military website Defense One. <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“It’s no longer a bipolar world where it’s just us and the Soviet Union. We’ve got other players out there who have nuclear capability. It’s never been more important to make sure
that we get this mission right.”</em></p>
<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more" style="margin: 1em 1em 0.6em 0px; padding: 0.6em 0.7em 0.4em; font-size: 0.666667em; float: left; clear: both; position: relative; width: 323.958px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<div class="read-more__title" style="margin-top: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-bottom: 0.6em; margin-left: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.6em; line-height: 1.4em;">
Read more</div>
<a class="read-more__link" href="https://www.rt.com/usa/400812-nuclear-cruise-missile-lockheed-raytheon/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; display: block; text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-size: 1.6em; line-height: 1.4em; border: none !important; color: rgb(4, 79, 170);"><img class="read-more__cover" src="https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.08/thumbnail/599f0e6cfc7e93cb4a8b4567.jpg" alt="The still-to-be-developed weapon would replace Boeing's AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile © Reuters" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: block; width: 323.958px; max-width: 100%;"><span class="read-more__footer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lockheed
& Raytheon to develop new US nuclear cruise missile – Pentagon</span></a></div>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">Goldfein said that the order to return the B-52 bombers to high-readiness has not yet been issued, but showed journalists the ongoing construction work at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">Nine alert pads branching off from an 11,000-foot runway are being renovated, along with a nearby building that will house more than 100 crew members assigned to the B-52 bombers, which have been in service
since the 1950s.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">Despite their age, Goldfein believes that the bombers could play a role in a modern conflict – certain to be different from the mutually assured destruction of the Cold War.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class=""><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“I’ve challenged Air Force Global Strike Command to help lead the dialog, help with this discussion about ‘What does conventional conflict look like with
a nuclear element?’ and ‘Do we respond as a global force if that were to occur?’ and ‘What are the options?’ ‘How do we think about it — how do we think about deterrence in that environment?’”</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">The final authority to place the bombers outside rests with either the head of the US Strategic Command, STRATCOM, which oversees the country’s nuclear arsenals, or the head of US Northern Command, NORTHCOM,
responsible for defending the US in case of war.</p>
<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more" style="margin: 1em 1em 0.6em 0px; padding: 0.6em 0.7em 0.4em; font-size: 0.666667em; float: left; clear: both; position: relative; width: 323.958px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
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<a class="read-more__link" href="https://www.rt.com/usa/407291-cia-nkorea-strike-america/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; display: block; text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-size: 1.6em; line-height: 1.4em; border: none !important; color: rgb(4, 79, 170);"><img class="read-more__cover" src="https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.10/thumbnail/59e9dd54fc7e93f70e8b4567.jpg" alt="People perform for nuclear scientists and engineers who contributed to a hydrogen bomb test in North Korea © KCNA" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: block; width: 323.958px; max-width: 100%;"><span class="read-more__footer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">N.
Korea may be ‘months’ away from capability to nuke US, CIA chief hints</span></a></div>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class=""><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“Our job is options,”</em> Goldfein said. <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“We provide best military advice and options for the commander
in chief and the secretary of defense. Should the STRATCOM commander require or the NORTHCOM commander require us to be on a higher state of readiness to defend the homeland, then we have to have a place to put those forces.”</em></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">Additionally, Goldfein said that Barksdale and other US bases are building storage facilities for new intercontinental ballistic missiles. In August, the White House issued an order to develop a replacement
for the Minuteman III, the only land-based nuclear missile still in use by the US Army, which was introduced in 1970, and has since been superseded by several generations of strategic weapons developed by Russia, China, and other nuclear states. The US Air
Force is also conducting operational tests of a new modification of its plane-delivered nuclear gravity bomb, with the B61-12 expected to enter service by 2020.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class=""><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/384786-nuclear-bomb-test-nevada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; color: rgb(4, 79, 170); text-decoration: none;" class="">READ
MORE: US successfully tests new nuclear gravity bomb</a></strong></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class="">Asked whether these measures were likely to be an effective deterrent against North Korea, which has backed up its stated intention to become a nuclear state with a series of successful tests, or other
volatile actors, Goldfein seemed less sure.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; padding: 0px;" class=""><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">“It depends on who, what kind of behavior are we talking about, and whether they’re paying attention to our readiness status,”</em> he said.</p>
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