Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
7/24/2015
Command of the Air Force Global Strike Command will shift from Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson to Gen. Robin Rand on July 28, ending Wilson’s nearly two-year tenure as commander of the service’s nuclear deterrence branch, command spokeswoman Carla Pampe confirmed to NS&D Monitor on Wednesday. The change of command will also upgrade AFGSC from a three-star to a four-star billet, one of several reforms announced by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in November to address issues that plagued the nuclear enterprise. Wilson has commanded AFGSC since October 2013. On July 30, he will assume his next position as deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, a post held by Lt. Gen. James Kowalski since October 2013, STRATCOM spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell confirmed to NS&D Monitor on Wednesday. Kowalski is retiring from the military, effective Sept. 1.
AFGSC to Absorb Programs, Bomb Wings
Rand, who had served as commander of air education and training command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, since October 2013, has more than 470 combat hours and over 5,000 flying hours, which includes service on nuclear alert in the 1980s as an F-16 pilot in Europe. The boost to a four-star billet will set the stage for Global Strike to absorb the B-1 bomber fleets and Long-Range Strike Bomber program from Air Combat Command, effective Oct. 1. Global Strike will take in an additional 63 aircraft and 7,000 people under the realignment, announced by Air Force leadership in April.
"With a single command responsible for the Air Force’s entire long range strike fleet, the Airmen in AFGSC will benefit from better coordination and increased sharing of expertise across the five bomber wings,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in prepared comments at the time. “Consolidating all conventional and nuclear capable bombers within the same command allows the Air Force to streamline the global strike and strategic deterrence missions, and create a lasting positive impact for the Air Force’s global strike capabilities.”
The 7th and 28th bomb wings will stay at Dyess AFB, Texas, and Ellsworth AFB, S.D., respectively, as Wilson in April said he expects the realignment will be “imperceptible” to most airmen serving at those bases. “The impacts of the realignment will become noticeable over time as crosstalk among maintainers and aviators increases across all three platforms, creating opportunities in training, tactics development, doctrine development, aircraft modernization and acquisition,” he said.
