Editing Mutual assured destruction (section)

===Strategic Air Command===
{{More citations needed|subsection|date=July 2019}}
{{see also|Operation Chrome Dome}}
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| image1 = Boeing B-47B rocket-assisted take off on April 15, 1954 061024-F-1234S-011.jpg
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| alt1 = Image of Boeing B-47B at take-off
|caption1=[[Boeing B-47B Stratojet]] Rocket-Assisted Take Off (RATO) on April 15, 1954
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|caption2=[[B-52D]] Stratofortress being refueled by a [[KC-135]] Stratotanker, 1965
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Beginning in 1955, the United States [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) kept one-third of its bombers on alert, with crews ready to take off within fifteen minutes and fly to designated targets inside the [[Soviet Union]] and destroy them with nuclear bombs in the event of a Soviet first-strike attack on the United States. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy increased funding for this program<ref>{{cite web | url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal61-1373672# | title=CQ Almanac Online Edition }}</ref> and raised the commitment to 50 percent of SAC aircraft.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

During periods of increased tension in the early 1960s, SAC kept part of its B-52 fleet airborne at all times, to allow an extremely fast retaliatory strike against the Soviet Union in the event of a surprise attack on the United States. This program continued until 1969. Between 1954 and 1992, bomber wings had approximately one-third to one-half of their assigned aircraft on quick reaction ground alert and were able to take off within a few minutes.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-budget-message-the-congress-fiscal-year-1961 | title=Annual Budget Message to the Congress: Fiscal Year 1961. &#124; the American Presidency Project }}</ref> SAC also maintained the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP, pronounced "kneecap"), also known as "Looking Glass", which consisted of several EC-135s, one of which was airborne at all times from 1961 through 1990.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.stratcom.mil/About/History/ | title=History }}</ref> During the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] the bombers were dispersed to several different airfields, and sixty-five B-52s were airborne at all times.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/20815-08-us-strategic-air-command-history-and-research-division-historical-study-no-90-vol | title=U.S. Strategic Air Command, History and Research Division, Historical Study No. 90, Vol. I, Strategic Air Command Operations during the Cuban Crisis of 1962, circa 1963, Top Secret, Excised Copy &#124; National Security Archive }}</ref>

During the height of the tensions between the US and the USSR in the 1960s, two popular films were made dealing with what could go terribly wrong with the policy of keeping nuclear-bomb-carrying airplanes at the ready: ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' (1964)<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.tvovermind.com/movies/50-years-later-2001-a-space-odyssey-is-still-an-unparalleled-marvel-on-the-big-screen |title=50 Years Later, '2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still an Unparalleled Marvel on the Big Screen |date=2018-08-31 |work=TVOvermind |access-date=2018-09-15 |language=en-US}}</ref> and ''[[Fail-Safe (1964 film)|Fail Safe]]'' (1964).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gerald-hirschfeld-dead-young-frankenstein-fail-safe-cinematographer-was-95-977763 |title=Gerald Hirschfeld, Cinematographer on 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Fail-Safe,' Dies at 95 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=2018-09-15 |language=en}}</ref>
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