Strategic Air Command

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a Cold War-era United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM) responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992, active for most of the Cold War. SAC was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airborne command posts; and most of the USAF's aerial refueling aircraft.

SAC primarily consisted of the Second Air Force (2AF), Eighth Air Force (8AF) and the Fifteenth Air Force (15AF), while SAC headquarters (HQ SAC) included Directorates for Operations & Plans, Intelligence, Command & Control, Maintenance, Training, Communications, and Personnel. At a lower echelon, SAC headquarters divisions included Aircraft Engineering, Missile Concept, and Strategic Communications. At the height of the Cold War in 1983, SAC controlled a total of 37 different wings. It operated 1,000 Minuteman II and III ICBMs, 48 LGM-25C Titan II ICBMs, 316 B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers, 56 FB-111 Aardvark fighter-bombers. Supporting these, SAC operated 615 KC-135 Stratotanker refuelers, alongside 14 EC-135 'Looking Glass' and several E-4 'Nightwatch' command and control aircraft, the latter of which supported continuity of government. Reconnaissance aircraft included the SR-71 Blackbird, U-2 'Dragon Lady', and RC-135.

In 1992, as part of an overall post-Cold War reorganization of the U.S. Air Force, SAC was disestablished as both a Specified Command and as a MAJCOM. Its personnel and equipment redistributed among the Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Mobility Command (AMC), Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), and Air Education and Training Command (AETC), while SAC's central headquarters complex at Offutt AFB, Nebraska was concurrently transferred to the newly created United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), which was established as a joint Unified Combatant Command to replace SAC's Specified Command role. In 2009, SAC was reactivated and redesignated as the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). AFGSC eventually acquired all USAF bomber aircraft and the intercontinental ballistic missile force, inheriting the role of its predecessor.