Editing Strategic Air Command (section)

== End of the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm ==
SAC reorganization at the end of the [[Cold War]] began as early as 1988 when the [[Base Realignment and Closure|Carlucci Commission]] planned the closure of:
* [[Mather Air Force Base]], California, an [[Air Training Command|ATC]] undergraduate navigator training (UNT) base which hosted a tenant SAC B-52G / KC-135E bomb wing and a SAC-gained [[Air Force Reserve|AFRES]] KC-135A air refueling group; and
* [[Pease Air Force Base]], New Hampshire, a SAC base with an FB-111A and KC-135E bomb wing and a SAC-gained [[Air National Guard|ANG]] KC-135A air refueling wing

The closures were the beginning of a post-Cold War process that would later become known as [[Base Realignment and Closure]] or BRAC.  Although Mather AFB's navigator training mission would relocate to [[Randolph AFB]], Texas, the Mather B-52G bomber/KC-135A tanker wing would inactivate and the AFRES KC-135 tanker group would relocate to nearby [[McClellan AFB]], relocating again four years later to [[Beale AFB]] when another [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]] process would close McClellan AFB.

Concurrently, the Pease AFB bomber/tanker wing would lose its FB-111 aircraft and transfer to [[Whiteman AFB]], Missouri in preparation for transition to the [[B-2 Spirit]] while a portion of Pease would be transferred to the [[New Hampshire Air National Guard]] for its ANG KC-135 air refueling wing and be renamed [[Pease Air National Guard Base]].

Additional closures and divestments of SAC bases would continue throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, accelerating even more so as a result the [[START I]] Treaty's mandated elimination of both the entire B-52G fleet and the inactivation of all [[Minuteman II]] and [[LGM-118 Peacekeeper|Peacekeeper]] ICBMs, as well as the 1992 reorganization of the Air Force that disestablished SAC and dispersed its assets to other new or existing MAJCOMs, primarily ACC and AMC.  In addition to closures of Mather AFB and Pease AFB, this would eventually include the following subsequent closure and realignment actions, primarily due to BRAC:

{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
* [[Altus AFB]] (tenant SAC presence disestablished and transferred to AMC, later AETC)
* [[Barksdale AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Beale AFB]] (transferred to ACC)
* [[Carswell AFB]] (transferred to USN as NAS JRB Fort Worth per BRAC)
** AFRES (later AFRC) HQ 10th Air Force, an ACC-gained AF Reserve fighter wing, and an AMC-gained ANG airlift wing remain
* [[Castle AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Dyess AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Eaker AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Ellsworth AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Fairchild AFB]] (transferred to AMC)
* [[F. E. Warren AFB]] (transferred to ACC, then AFSPC, now AFGSC)
* [[Grand Forks AFB]] (transferred to AMC, now ACC)
* [[Griffiss AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
** AFMC Rome Air Development Center and ANG Northeast Air Defense Sector HQ remain
* [[Grissom AFB]] (transferred to AFRC as Grissom ARB)
* [[K. I. Sawyer AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Loring AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Malmstrom AFB]] (transferred to AMC, then AFSPC, now AFGSC)
* [[March AFB]] (transferred to AFRC as March ARB per BRAC)
* [[McConnell AFB]] (transferred to AMC)
* [[Minot AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Offutt AFB]] (transferred to ACC)
* [[Plattsburgh AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
* [[Robins AFB]] (tenant Regular AF SAC presence disestablished; base remains an AFMC installation with ACC and ACC-gained ANG flying wings)
* [[Seymour Johnson AFB]] (TAC base transferred to ACC; tenant SAC presence disestablished and SAC-gained tenant AF Reserve presence transferred to AFRC, now gained by AMC)
* [[Whiteman AFB]] (transferred to ACC, now AFGSC)
* [[Wurtsmith Air Force Base|Wurtsmith AFB]] (closed by BRAC)
{{Div col end}}

On 1 July 1989, the [[1st Combat Evaluation Group]] reporting directly to SAC headquarters was split with most HQ 1CEVG organizations transferring to SAC HQ (e.g., the Command Instrument Flight Division) and RBS personnel, equipment, and [[:Category:Strategic Air Command radar stations|radar stations]] becoming the [[1st Electronic Combat Range Group]]. Airborne NEACP alerts ended in 1990{{r|GlobalSecurity}} and during 1991's [[Operation Desert Storm]] to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invasion and occupation, SAC bomber, tanker and reconnaissance aircraft flew operations (e.g., B-52s with conventional bombs and conventional warhead [[AGM-86 ALCM]]s) near Iraq from bases in Great Britain, Turkey, Cyprus, [[Diego Garcia]], Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Following Operation Desert Storm, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the ''de facto'' end of the [[Cold War]], President [[George H. W. Bush]] and Secretary of Defense [[Dick Cheney]] directed SAC to take all bomber and refueling aircraft and Minuteman II ICBMs off of continuous nuclear alert on 27 September 1991<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stratofortress.org/history.htm |title=B52 Stratofortress Association |publisher=Stratofortress.org |access-date=2013-07-21}}<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/spotlight.asp?id=123008783 |title=Strategic Air Command alert ends |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130219012449/http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/spotlight.asp?id=123008783 |archive-date=2013-02-19 |publisher=Af.mil |access-date=2013-07-21 }}</ref> and placing said aircraft on quick reaction ground alert.<ref>[[George H. W. Bush|Bush, George H. W.]] (27 September 1991) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20035 Address to the Nation on Reducing United States and Soviet Nuclear Weapons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816103710/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20035 |date=16 August 2016 }}</ref>

The 31 May 1992 major reorganization of the USAF organizational structure subsequently disestablished SAC, moving its bomber, reconnaissance and aerial command post aircraft and all SAC ICBMs, along with all [[Tactical Air Command]] aircraft, to the newly established [[Air Combat Command]] (ACC).  The newly established [[Air Mobility Command]] (AMC) inherited most of SAC's [[KC-135 Stratotanker]] aircraft and the entire [[KC-10 Extender]] aerial refueling tanker force, while some KC-135s were reassigned directly to [[United States Air Forces in Europe|USAFE]] and [[Pacific Air Forces|PACAF]], with one additional air refueling wing assigned to the [[Air Education and Training Command]] (AETC) as the KC-135 formal training unit.

Land-based ICBMs were later transferred from ACC to [[Air Force Space Command]] (AFSPC), while manned bombers remained in ACC.  USAF nuclear forces in ACC and AFSPC were then combined with the [[United States Navy]]'s [[Fleet Ballistic Missile]] submarine forces to form the [[United States Strategic Command]] ([[USSTRATCOM]]), which took over the SAC Headquarters complex at Offutt AFB.

In 2009, the entire land-based USAF ICBM force and that portion of the USAF manned bomber force that was still nuclear-capable, e.g., the [[B-2 Spirit]] and [[B-52 Stratofortress]], was transferred to the newly established [[Air Force Global Strike Command]] ([[AFGSC]]), while the [[B-1 Lancer]] conventional bomber force remained in ACC. In 2015, these B-1 units were also transferred to Air Force Global Strike Command, which assumed responsibility for all current and future USAF bomber forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afgsc.af.mil/News/story/id/123445660/ |title=AF realigns B-1, LRS-B under Air Force Global Strike Command |access-date=2015-08-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619101823/http://www.afgsc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123445660 |archive-date=19 June 2015 }}</ref>