Search results
Strategic Air Command ( SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces [2] from 1946 to 1992.
Strategic Air Command (SAC), U.S. military command that served as the bombardment arm of the U.S. Air Force and as a major part of the nuclear deterrent against the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Headquartered first at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and then, after November 1948, at Offutt.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn how General Curtis LeMay transformed SAC from a dysfunctional and poorly equipped nuclear force to a powerful and effective deterrent against the Soviet Union. Read about the challenges, controversies and achievements of SAC under LeMay's leadership.
- Emergency War Order Synopsis
- Emergency War Order Messages
- Defcon
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
To ensure that all US forces operated on a common timetable, the JCS established several key “hours” associated with the EWO and SIOP. H-hour served as the absolute start time for all operations. Designated by the JCS or by SAC’s Commander-in-Chief (CINCSAC), depending on the circumstances, “A” hour referred to the beginning of the generation of fo...
Perhaps the most significant part of the checklist is the recap of EWO messages. There are two categories: EWO Index and EWO Preparation Index. The former, known as Red Dot messages, were for use when war was imminent or underway. They authorized the launch and execution of SAC forces on their EWO routes, where, depending on instructions provided b...
The Checklist provides the first full declassification of SAC operations at various DEFCON levels. The airborne and ground alert operations discussed earlier were keyed into the DEFCONS, which corresponded to different levels of international tension. The lowest is DEFCON 5, which reflects “normal peacetime conditions.” For many years SAC maintaine...
A declassified SAC checklist reveals how the Strategic Air Command would have launched bombers and missiles in response to Emergency War Orders and Defense Readiness Conditions in 1964. The checklist also shows how SAC trained for launch-on-warning and executed the SIOP plan for nuclear war.
These were the missions of Strategic Air Command (SAC) from 1946 to 1992 and of the first USSTRATCOM from 1992 to 2002. SAC was created in March 1946 as one of three major commands of the U.S. Army Air Forces and became a major command of the U.S. Air Force in September 1947.
Among the 600 aircraft assigned to the Strategic Air Command, there were only three jet planes—P-80 Shooting Stars. The command’s mission was to be prepared to conduct long-range operations in any part of the world at any time, but its ability to do this in 1946 fell so short as to be almost negligible.
A historical account of the creation, evolution and demise of SAC, the Cold War nuclear-dedicated command of the U.S. Air Force. The article covers SAC's aircraft, missions, logistics, leadership and challenges from 1946 to 1992.
