A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, prepares to taxi on the main parking apron on September 6, 2023. AIRMAN 1ST CLASS ALEXANDER NOTTINGHAM/U.S. AIR FORCE
THE WATCH STAFF
Key operational leaders in the U.S. nuclear force said the rotating bomber task forces (BTF) and the superior reach of the Air Force’s nuclear deterrent capabilities are more than a match for the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing nuclear stockpile.
Col. Daniel S. Hoadley and Col. Kenneth C. McGhee said the PRC threat is “extremely real” and “tangible,” but that the readiness of the Air Force to deploy its nuclear strike capability across the globe keeps the nuclear balance tilted in favor of the U.S.
“The weight of responsibility is not lost on us. It is something our Airmen have internalized and take extremely seriously,” Hoadley said at an Air and Space Forces Association (AFA) Warfighter in Action event on October 30, 2023. “And we consider it a high honor to be a bedrock of our nation’s deterrence on a day-to-day basis.”
Hoadley commands the 5th Bomber Wing based in Minot Air Force Base (AFB) in North Dakota. McGhee leads the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB.
The 2022 National Defense Strategy recognizes the PRC as a pacing challenge and directs the U.S. Department of Defense to sustain and strengthen its deterrence.
“It’s extremely important that we understand that through ICBMs, through bombers, through subs, the deterrent capabilities of the nuclear enterprise, we are the backbone of the deterrent capability for the United States,” McGhee said at the event.
With its missiles and airpower, Minot AFB is the only installation to host two legs of the Air Force’s nuclear triad, the third leg being ballistic missile submarines.
The 5th Bomber Wing recently spent a month in Guam on a BTF rotation, part of a strategy to demonstrate the U.S.’s global reach and strategic unpredictability, which keeps adversaries unsure of the location of U.S. bombers. The BTF landed a B-52 on Indonesian soil for the first time in June, Air and Space Forces magazine reports.
Several months later on October 24, a Chinese J-11 warplane intercepted a B-52 over the South China Sea. The Pentagon released footage of the incident, saying the Chinese fighter came 10 feet from colliding with the U.S. bomber and that the pilot’s behavior was “unsafe and unprofessional,” according to the magazine.
While the 5th Bomber Wing wasn’t involved in the incident, Hoadley said similar confrontations are becoming more common.
“More and more we’re seeing these kinds of adversary reactions to our Bomber Task Force activity,” Hoadley said. “When we park airpower in their backyard, they’re coming out to take a look. Those (PRC) aircraft are armed with live ordnance. Those are not movie props. That’s the real deal. And so it takes a tremendous amount of grit and courage and professionalism on the part of our air crews to maintain their composure, stay on mission, and react appropriately when those kinds of things happen.”
The BTF rotation is a capability the PRC doesn’t have, Hoadley noted at the AFA event.
“I think it’s equal parts a demonstration of fear and that they are taking notice of what we’re doing and are trying their best to provide their own assertive reaction to it,” he said.
The 91st Missile Wing must maintain a high level of readiness to counter a growing PRC threat, McGhee told the crowd.
“I have the opportunity. I have the mission to provide a nuclear deterrent capability across our missile fields … to deter the rising and the pacing threat that China provides us and that they pose to us.”