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Nuclear-Missile Crews Pull Longer Tours in Virus-Hit Air Force

Nuclear-Missile Crews Pull Longer Tours in Virus-Hit Air Force

(Bloomberg) -- Air Force personnel manning nuclear missile silos in the U.S. heartland are performing rotations as long as 14 days. Fighter pilots on alert for immediate defense of the U.S. are kept in near-isolation.

It’s all part of the “new abnormal” for the Air Force as it ensures smooth functioning during the coronavirus pandemic, according to General David Goldfein, the service’s chief of staff.

As the outlines of the pandemic began evident “we did a reset,” Goldfein said in an interview Wednesday. “We’ve got to adapt faster than the virus.”

The Air Force focused its efforts on missions deemed essential to the defense of the nation, he said. That includes manning nuclear missile silos as well as air mobility, space, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

It also encompasses the post-Sept. 11 “Noble Eagle” flight personnel in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas who are on alert to take off within minutes of a threat.

That means F-16 pilots with the 113th Air National Guard Wing at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, before they begin their 24-hour on-alert rotation, are told to “self-quarantine at home,” while only on-call pilots and maintenance airmen are allowed in the specialized “alert” facility that’s normally staffed by multiple people.

“Right now, they are limiting only those who are directly tied to the mission in the building -- no more personnel than necessary,” Senior Master Sergeant Craig Clapper, wing spokesman, said in an email. “We have adapted to the new guidelines put in place and the mission has been fully effective as normal.”

‘Tight Bubble’

The military has been under pressure as it struggles to fulfill its national security role without worsening the spread of the virus. The acting Navy secretary resigned last week after dismissing the captain of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier who had sent an urgent plea for help dealing with an outbreak on his ship, now sidelined in Guam. One crew member on the vessel has since died and almost 600 crew members have tested positive for the virus.

As of April 15, the Air Force had 299 of the military’s 2,486 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Pentagon data.

As the pandemic expands, the Air Force’s mission-essential flight crews are kept in a “pretty tight bubble,” Goldfein said. “They leave the cockpit, they go directly to their room, they have meals that are cleaned, they’re delivered and we keep them there until it’s time time to get back to the airplanes. We keep them in a bubble because they are flying all over the globe.”

It’s similar to how the Air Force is managing the personnel who staff its nuclear command and control systems and the silos housing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, Goldfein said.

For those missions, teams have been divided into “blue” and “silver” units that are “staying out in the field longer,” in some cases as many as 14 days compared with two or three days pre-virus, Goldfein said.

The demands aren’t going away, regardless of whether the virus does, he added.

“We expect zero relief in terms of operational tempo in those missions,” Goldfein said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.