U.S. Air Force names one-star general to lead provisional nuclear command

The U.S. Air Force announced on 18 Dec 2008 that Brig. Gen. James Kowalski, deputy director for global operations on the Joint Staff, will lead the provisional Global Strike Command, the precursor to a new organization that will comprise all of the service's nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The creation of Global Strike Command is a key component of Air Force efforts to centralize diffuse nuclear assets and operations, and restore credibility to its deterrence mission after a string of highly publicized failures drew attention to the service's deteriorating expertise and management of nuclear materiel.

Kowalski is a decorated bomber pilot who has held a variety of leadership positions, including commander of the 405th Air Expeditionary Wing in early 2003 when the unit provided strike, battle management and aerial refueling for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The provisional command is scheduled to be activated on Jan. 12 at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. A permanent location for the command has not been decided yet, said Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Aptekar. Kowalski will play a role in making that decision, but he is unlikely to lead the permanent command when it stands up later next year. That position will go to a three-star general, and it would be highly unusual for a one-star to be elevated to three-star rank in that period of time, several sources said.

Kowalski will be responsible for determining the personnel and resource needs of Global Strike Command and the components across the service from which they will be drawn. As such, he will work closely with other major commands and the headquarters Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Office, a newly created organization led by Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston.

Alston led a task force earlier this year that developed a roadmap to improve nuclear operations across the service. Among other things, the task force recommended the creation of Global Strike Command and changes in inventory control and management.

The Air Force has a clear understanding of where its weaknesses are in the nuclear mission, Alston said in a November interview. "We have the right focus in the field now," he said.

China ICBM Hits The Road

Highway construction in China's west (Qinghai province) indicates preparations are being made for the deployment of the DF31A ICBM. This is China's first solid fuel ICBM (with a range of about 8,000 kilometers) and roughly equivalent to the U.S. Minuteman I of the 1960s. The DF-31 weighs about 46 tons and is 60 feet long and 7 feet in diameter. It was designed for use on submarines, land silos and mobile launchers (which would halt at those "parking lots in the middle of nowhere" visible in satellite pictures of Qinghai province). The DF31 has been shown stored in a TEL (transporter, erector, launcher) vehicle. Driving these vehicles along all those new highways in Qinghai province would provide more protection from counterattacks, than using a reinforced silo.

The DF-31 has been in development for nearly twenty years, and only had its first successful launch nine years ago. It's now believed to have a reliable and accurate guidance system, as well as a third stage that carries three 50 kiloton warheads. Only about a dozen DF31s are in service.

When the Chinese get a SSBN (ballistic missile carrying nuclear sub) operational, the submarine version of the DF31 would be able to cover the entire United States. But the basic land based models can only hit North American targets west of the Rocky mountains. A new version of the DF31, uses the first two stages of the DF31, and a larger third stage. This missile, referred to as the DF31A, has a range of 10,000 kilometers, and can thus cover most of the United States. The DF31A is still in development.