Global Strike deputy commander, senior leaders discuss nuclear command and control during AFA conference

Lt. Gen. Jason Armagost, deputy commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, joined senior Department of War leaders Sept. 16 for a panel discussion on nuclear command and control during the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

Armagost joined Lt. Gen. Mark B. Pye, deputy director for the direct reporting portfolio manager, and Lt. Gen. Brandon Parker, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, to discuss the modernization and sustained readiness of the nation’s nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) enterprise.

This NC3 system is the network that enables national leaders to understand a developing situation, make decisions, communicate direction and maintain positive control of nuclear forces.

The nuclear enterprise is easily associated with bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarines; however, these forces greatly depend on reliable, resilient command-and-control capabilities to carry out their mission.

“The network is actually what we’re talking about to conduct the business of command and control,” Armagost said. “[The network] is connecting the president and the secretary of war and the chairman [of the joint chiefs of staff] through the combatant command to understand the environment, make decisions… and then to direct forces.”

For AFGSC, NC3 is central to its mission to deliver safe, secure and effective global strike capabilities for the nation’s defense. As part of these responsibilities, Armagost said the force routinely evaluates the systems and processes that support national command and control.

“We exercise on a daily basis, almost a shift-to-shift basis,” he said. “I have very high confidence in our operators and their level of professionalism.”

The panel reinforced that NC3 modernization is not separate from the nuclear capabilities; it is a foundational element of the mission. For AFGSC, the continued readiness of its Airmen, systems and command-and-control networks ensures the nation maintains combat capability for any environment, ready to provide options for U.S. senior leaders to employ the nation’s global strike assets anytime, anywhere.

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