507th ARW supports USSTRATCOM exercise

Published Dec. 10, 2010
507th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The 507th Air Refueling Wing joined with other Air Force airlift and tanker units recently to participate in Exercise Global Thunder 2010.

Global Thunder 11 is a U.S. Strategic Command-led annual exercise, focused on providing maintenance, battle staff and force support training, with primary emphasis on exercising nuclear command and control capabilities.

The Global Thunder exercises are designed to reflect the ongoing evolution of USSTRATCOM and its component commands. This exercise provides the opportunity to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of these efforts. Just as technology changes, so do the threats.

This annual exercise provides USSTRATCOM the opportunity to constantly hone its abilities to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the United States and our allies.

During the exercise, wing participants worked together coordinating maintenance and force support for our tankers to include demonstrating the wing's ability to generate KC-135 tankers and crews to alert status for rapid response.

"The nuclear enterprise remains, today and for the foreseeable future, the foundation of U.S. deterrence strategy and defense posture," officials stated. "As long as it is U.S. policy to deter others from using or developing nuclear weapons, and to maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear capability, it will be necessary to provide training and to measure the readiness of our forces and the effectiveness of our procedures under simulated crisis conditions."