The U.S. Air Force denied a report Monday that their fleet of nuclear armed bombers are currently being readied just in case they are ordered to put the bombers back on 24-hour ready alert status for the first time in 28 years. “We are not planning or preparing to put B-52s back on alert,” Ann Stefanek, the chief of Air Force media operations at the Pentagon told The Washington Examiner Monday. Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, reportedly told Defense One in an interview during a six-day tour of Barksdale and other U.S. Air Force bases that support the nuclear mission, that the bombers were being
readied for the alert. “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Goldfein told Defense One. “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward.” Stefanek told The Washington Examiner, however, that “updates to facilities, exercises, and training related to the B-52 Stratofortress aircraft at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana are done routinely to ensure the service is prepared,” and a misunderstanding may have led to the Defense One report. READ MORE
