One of the two bases at the core of USAF’s Bent Spear misadventure last year will undergo a nuclear surety inspection this month, but the prime inspectee will be the space wing not the bomb wing. Air Force Space Command will conduct a routine NSI of the 91st Space Wing, which, reports the Minot Daily News, involves some review of 5th Bomb Wing support to the other wing. However, the Air Combat Command-conducted NSI of the 5th BW will take place separately on an as-yet-unknown date. ACC does plan to conduct a Unit Compliance Inspection, a three-year check of paperwork and regulations, this month. Following an Air Force review of the Bent Spear incident, ACC relieved several commanders of their jobs and decertified the 5th Bomb Wing from its wartime mission, pending the NSI and related reviews. We have yet to hear results of a DOD-directed independent review.
As the Air Force readied for its June 21-22 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the service was also putting its Agile Combat Employment strategy into action, dispersing combat aircraft and Airmen from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in preparation for a possible Iranian retaliatory attack. Some defense experts say…
