Defense One: Air Force Putting B-52s Back on 24-hour Alert

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed B-52s back on 24-hour ready alert, Defense One has reported.

"This is yet one more step in ensuring that we're prepared," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said. "I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we're prepared going forward."

Goldfein stressed that the alert order, a status that has not been seen since the Cold War ended in 1991, has not been given, but that preparations were under way in anticipation that it might come.

The preparations are being made as President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have engaged in confrontational rhetoric over Pyongyang's rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, as well as concern over Russia's increasingly potent armed forces and other geopolitical situations worldwide.

It also comes as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis starts a week-long trip to Asian allies on Monday to talk about the North Korean crisis, just weeks before Trump's first visit to the region, according to the Daily Mail.

"The world is a dangerous place and we've got folks that are talking openly about use of nuclear weapons," Goldfein told Defense One. "It's no longer a bipolar world where it's just us and the Soviet Union. We've got other players out there who have nuclear capability. It's never been more important to make sure that we get this mission right."

Among the preparations, the various bases with nuclear bombers are planning to build storage facilities for a new nuclear missile that is under development.

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