Strategic Forces

Military units capable of destroying large-scale targets from extremely long ranges. In modern military parlance, strategic forces typically refer to units that provide nuclear strike capability. These forces take three forms: land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, sea-launched ballistic missiles, and long-range strategic bombers.

History of U.S. Strategic Forces

Limits on transportation technology prevented the development of true strategic forces until quite recently. The invention of the airplane first provided military commanders with the ability to deliver a significant blow deep behind enemy lines. Perhaps the first truly strategic military forces were the Allied long-range bombers of World War II. Flying in fleets of up to 1,000 planes, U.S. and British bombers wrought extensive damage on Germany's industry as well as its civilian population. This bombing campaign contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the war in Europe and proved the value of strategic forces in modern warfare.

During World War II, the bombers were one of several branches of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF), which was part of the U.S. Army. In March 1946, the USAAF was divided into three branches: Air Defense Command (ADC), Tactical Air Command (TAC), and Strategic Air Command (SAC). The primary missions of SAC were to conduct long-range offensive operations in any part of the world, either independently or in cooperation with land and naval forces; and conduct maximum-range reconnaissance over land or sea, either independently or in cooperation with land and naval forces.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, SAC bombers were considered the United States' strategic front line of defense against possible Soviet aggression. However, the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the late 1950s radically changed the nature of strategic forces. An ICBM could be launched from a base thousands of miles away from its intended target and, unlike a bomber, could not be shot down once in flight. Advances in miniaturization and missile guidance technology during the 1960s and 1970s made ICBMs more powerful and more accurate. By the mid-1970s, a single land-based ICBM could deliver multiple nuclear warheads accurately to many separate targets. Both the United States and the Soviet Union built and deployed thousands of land-based ICBMs.

The late 1950s also witnessed a revolution in sea warfare that produced the world's first nuclear powered submarines. Capable of staying at sea for months at a time—and almost undetectable underwater—nuclear subs soon became the newest addition to U.S. strategic forces. By the mid-1960s, submarines were being outfitted with sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) that could be fired from hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean. Like land-based ICBMs, SLBMs have ranges measured in the thousands of miles. Because they are virtually undetectable, ballistic missile subs are almost ensured of surviving a nuclear first strike by an enemy nation. This made them perhaps the most valuable strategic weapon for both the United States and the Soviet Union during the period of the Cold War.

Modern U.S. Strategic Forces

As of the early 21st century, U.S. strategic forces were composed of the so-called strategic nuclear triad of strategic bombers, land-based ICBMs, and submarine-based SLBMs. Until 1992, these three components of U.S. strategic forces were under separate areas of command. Through SAC, the USAAF had responsibility for strategic bombers. In 1947, the USAAF became a separate military service, the United States Air Force (USAF), with SAC as one of its main components. The USAF was also in charge of land-based ICBM operations. The U.S. Navy had command authority over the nation's ballistic missile submarines.

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