Members of the French Strategic Air Forces spent three days at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., visiting 20th Air Force and the 90th Missile Wing. The French contingent toured the base’s training launch facility complex, missile procedure trainers, and Warren’s museum. Maj. Gen. Gratien Maire, French defense attache to the United States, told a group of Warren missileers that the FSAF has a “great interest” in the technical side of the nuclear mission. “We hear everyday how important our job is, but having a foreign military take such a close interest in it really shows the global impact we can have,” said Capt. Patrick Duvall, flight commander with Warren’s 321st Missile Squadron. The French airmen’s time at Warren from Nov. 18-20 followed their visit to Barksdale AFB, La., during Air Force Global Command’s first-ever Global Strike Challenge. (Barksdale report by 1st Lt. Brooke Brzozowske)
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.