WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Eighth Air Force is part of the Global Strike Command and is one of the air components of the US Strategic Command. The Eighth Air Force operates the B-2 Stealth bomber force, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber force and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber force.
“We agree the Humvee is not the best vehicle,” Weinstein told the hearing held on Thursday about the 2014 Defense Department nuclear enterprise review.
“My goal would be to replace the Humvees.”
Weinstein admitted that there had been many accidents involving Humvees, and problems with their brakes made the vehicles “problematic” driving on roads.
The Air Force Major General also stated that continued reliance on 1960s- and 1970s-era helicopters was “really damaging to the security we have on the weapons systems” at nuclear air bases.
Eighth Air Force commander Major General Richard Clark told the Committee that another problem with aging aircraft and weapons systems was the increasing difficulty in maintaining adequate spare parts for them.
Many of the original manufacturers had long since gone out of business or no longer produced the same items, Clark said.
If the US Air Force was going to fly aging strategic bombers for another 25 years, the issue of adequate maintenance would become an increasing problem, Clark warned.
The 20th Air Force operates the land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missile forces of the United States.
