Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Senior Airman Daniel Wichers signals a B-52H Stratofortress  Oct. 26, 2014, with a light gun during Global Thunder 15 at Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Light guns are used to convey a variety of messages to pilots. Global Thunder is a U.S. Strategic Command annual field training and battle staff exercise designed to exercise all mission areas with primary emphasis on nuclear command, control and communications. This field training and battle staff exercise provides training opportunities for components, task forces, units, and command posts to deter, and if necessary, defeat a military attack against the United States and to employ forces as directed by the president. Wichers is a 5th Operations Support Squadron air traffic controller. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Stephanie Morris)141026-F-WC654-700
                        
                        
                        Senior Airman Daniel Wichers signals a B-52H Stratofortress  Oct. 26, 2014, with a light gun during Global Thunder 15 at Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Light guns are used to convey a variety of messages to pilots. Global Thunder is a U.S. Strategic Command annual field training and battle staff exercise designed to exercise all mission areas with primary emphasis on nuclear command, control and communications. This field training and battle staff exercise provides training opportunities for components, task forces, units, and command posts to deter, and if necessary, defeat a military attack against the United States and to employ forces as directed by the president. Wichers is a 5th Operations Support Squadron air traffic controller. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Stephanie Morris)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res
        


        A B-52H Stratofortress lands during Global Thunder 15 on Oct. 26, 2014, at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. Global Thunder is a U.S. Strategic Command annual field training and battle staff exercise designed to exercise all mission areas with primary emphasis on nuclear command, control and communications. This exercise provides training opportunities for components, task forces, units, and command posts to deter, and if necessary, defeat a military attack against the United States and to employ forces as directed by the president. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Curt Beach)Global Thunder 15
                        
                        
                        A B-52H Stratofortress lands during Global Thunder 15 on Oct. 26, 2014, at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. Global Thunder is a U.S. Strategic Command annual field training and battle staff exercise designed to exercise all mission areas with primary emphasis on nuclear command, control and communications. This exercise provides training opportunities for components, task forces, units, and command posts to deter, and if necessary, defeat a military attack against the United States and to employ forces as directed by the president. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Curt Beach)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Global Strike forces participate in strategic command, control exercisePublished Oct. 29, 2014
            U.S. Strategic Command, in coordination with other combatant commands, services and appropriate U.S. government agencies Oct. 29 concluded Exercise Global Thunder.
Global Thunder 15 is a command and control exercise designed to train Department of Defense forces and assess joint operational readiness across all of U.S. Strategic Command's mission areas with a specific focus on nuclear readiness.
"We operate in an incredibly challenging and complex global environment that constantly requires us to hone and refine the command's skills so we can effectively and boldly respond to a full spectrum of crises," said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command.
The exercise was conducted in coordination with North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command's Exercise Vigilant Shield 15, and Canadian Joint Operations Command's Exercise Determined Dragon 14, which aim to train participants, including our Canadian forces, in homeland defense processes.
An example of one of the innovative approaches command officials used to leverage the exercise for training effectiveness was the contribution of B-52 Stratofortresses, to a Vigilant Shield 15 training event. The bombers had completed their Global Thunder mission and were on their return leg when they conducted training flights with NORAD fighters out of Goose Bay, Canada.
"It is an interdependent world where we are operating in a dynamic global security environment," Haney said. "It is paramount we practice and enhance relationships now, in peacetime, between the combatant commands and our Allies and partners, so everyone understands what capabilities U.S. Strategic Command brings to the equation."
While the exercise was based on a notional scenario with fictitious adversaries, it realistically allowed service members to exercise as they would fight, according to Mr. Patrick McVay, the command's director of joint training exercises.
"Though I won't get into specific details, the scenario integrated, in just eight days, nearly every conceivable strategic threat to our nation and called upon all the USSTRATCOM capabilities that would be provided to geographic combatant commanders in a real-world crisis: space, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, global strike, and ballistic missile defense capabilities, among them," McVay said.
According to McVay, this virtual tsunami of various threats is created to closely replicate what would most likely happen in a real-world conflict involving strategic command forces and capabilities.
"We'd never conduct our mission in a vacuum," he said. "It is never going to be just nuclear. There will be conflict in space and the cyber arena, and we are going to have to use all our capabilities in concert with other military and government organizations."
Nearly every component, task force, unit, command post and bomb wing associated with USSTRATCOM, from Air Force Global Strike Command to the Joint Space Operations Center, participated in the training event.
"As the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, I have been charged with providing and maintaining a credible and responsive 21st Century strategic deterrent to ultimately provide the president of the United States with flexible options with adequate decision space, and should deterrence fail, to be responsive," Admiral Haney said. "The stellar work accomplished by the thousands of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and dedicated civilians during Global Thunder 15 underscores my confidence in telling the President, 'We are ready 24/7,'" he said.*(Information courtesy of U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs)*Global Thunder 



nuclear deterrence 



Minot AFB 



USSTRATCOM Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil