US Air Force (Air Force) Global Strike Command Chief Timothy Ray said in a letter to the Air Force Times that the future war that the country is likely to wage with China or Russia threatens the survival of the American nation. The military also named the main weapon of the future that Washington can direct against Moscow.
According to a general talking about improving nuclear weapons systems, “These potential adversaries are modernizing differently than the United States.” In order to “keep up with the times,” Ray said, the United States “needs to modernize its network of bombers, submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBMs], in part through the development of new technologies.”
The military noted that before the United States acquires enough new B-21 Raider heavy strategic bombers, the country will maintain and modernize the aging B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, and B-52 Stratofortress. The general also recalled the work on a new ICBM being created as part of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent project to replace the half-century LGM-30G Minuteman III.
Separately, Ray noted the increased interaction with partners, in particular the Allied Sky mission, during which six B-52 Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota flew over NATO countries in Europe per day.
In August, US Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown Jr. said that the war of the future involving the United States will not be like the conflicts of the past two decades. “The war of the future will not stay far from our shores,” he suggested.
In September, Valerie Insinna, a journalist for the American edition of Defense News, spoke about a visit to the Combat Operations Center, created at the United States Naval Aviation Andrews Base, where she observed a simulated operation of a “revolutionary combat control system”, during which Washington's response to an attack by a potential adversary was shown probably Moscow.
