[...]... command SAC by the Unified Strategic Command (STRATCOM) USAF strategic systems were reassigned, with bombers joining fighters in the Air Combat Command and missiles joining space launch vehicles and satellites in the Air Force Space Command Thus, the xxviii path into the USAF arms- control structure was altered, even ended, and that structure began to draw down in numbers and capabilities, shifting... US Forces Azores and 65th Air Base Wing Vice Commander x Introduction This book is about arms control, so it is most appropriate to begin with a discussion of arms control as a construct within US national security policy during the Cold War and in its immediate aftermath The classic description of arms control as a strategic policy construct remains that of Thomas Schelling and Morton Halperin in. .. agreement to limit arms USAF Development The United States Air Force was established as an independent service in the wake of its largely strategic experience in the later days of World War II and based on the legacy of its band of strategic, independent operations advocates dating from early in the interwar period Even with its tactical involvement in Korea, it was centered on building strategic capability,... player in implementing these agreements, and it continued to find the need to have a voice in their negotiation But with the end of the symbolic centrality of the Cold War, the United States disbanded the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), shifting its responsibilities (and downgrading them in the process) to a number of bureaus within the State Department And the USAF, facing budget cuts and. .. counterparts in the field commands will examine and report to senior Air Force and national leaders the military, fiscal, and personnel costs and benefits derived from these arms- control efforts The ability to make these assessments did not blossom overnight This book captures the story of a young Air Force s initial (and limited) impact on arms- control negotiations and outcomes It goes on to document a growing... broadening role of economic instrument; broadening of containment field –Technological advances in both strategic and conventional systems –Counterforce additions to strategy toward a full countervailing strategy in face of nuclear parity –Residual continuing focus on limiting/bounding field (TTBT,5 PNET,7 and nonproliferation/B WC)8 –Focus within existing field enabled by NTM9 capabilities and confidence... competition and moderation, aimed at reducing and/ or eliminating existing systems as well as limiting growth and advances –Example: both INF systems deployment and INF treaty/systems removal and destruction –Expanded strategic and conventional systems, innovations (stealth, precision), foundation for new dimensions (space, information) –Immediate shift from Soviet Union/Russia focus to regional conflicts and. .. element—nuclear deterrence and defense— in balance Table 1 graphically summarizes this entire Cold War context and these themes as a transition to this book’s detailed coverage of strategic arms control and USAF roles and outcomes across the Cold War and into its transitional endgame Arms control continues today, and will continue tomorrow, to greatly influence USAF structure, posture, and capability Therefore,... draw down its structure and capability to influence the widening process of arms control USAF Development By this period, the USAF was no longer a centrally or even primarily strategic service in the sense that strategic equals nuclear—it retains its focus on airpower as a strategic asset in the sense of strategic meaning theater or even global in scope and focused on winning wars rather than battles... capability, superiority, and deterrence This mission centered on the growth and dominance of SAC, which was both an Air Force organization and, as a specified command, a national war-fighting command SAC quickly became the preeminent USAF core, with its leaders rising to command the USAF, and its pursuit of the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP)—the United States nuclear target list and war plan—by eventually . US AIR FORCE INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES US AIR FORCE ACADEMY Milestones in Strategic Arms Control, 1945–2000 United States Air Force Roles and. designing and negotiating positions in the strategic arms talks in the 1980s and 1990s, to setting numerical limits on aircraft in designing regimes limiting