Tensions on the Korean peninsula have not prompted any significant changes in the Air Force’s Pacific posture, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh reported Monday at a Pentagon press conference. Welsh noted that three B-2 bombers deployed to Guam for a “scheduled rotation” to Andersen Air Force Base and that this would be in addition to the usual bomber presence missions there. USAF forces also remain “ready” in South Korea, but have not been put on an especially high alert, Welsh reported. “Nothing additional” is being moved in response to the situation in Korea, he said.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…