Editing Strategic Air Command (section)

===Post-Vietnam, 1970s budget cuts, 1980s renewal, and the Cold War redux===
During the Vietnam War, due to the escalating costs of combat operations in Southeast Asia, SAC was required to close several SAC bases, consolidate other bases, or transfer several bases to other MAJCOMs, other services, or the Air Reserve Component in order to remain within budgetary constraints.  This included:
* [[Altus AFB]] (transferred to MAC, later to AETC)
* [[Bergstrom Air Force Base|Bergstrom AFB]] (transferred to TAC, then ACC until [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]] closure in 1993)
* [[Columbus AFB]] (transferred to ATC, now AETC)
* [[Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base|Clinton-Sherman AFB]] (closed)
* [[Bangor Air National Guard Base|Dow AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Bangor ANGB)
* [[Hunter Army Airfield|Hunter AFB]] (transferred to US Army as Hunter AAF)
* [[Larson Air Force Base|Larson AFB]] (closed)
* [[Lincoln Airport (Nebraska)|Lincoln AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Lincoln ANGB)
* [[Little Rock AFB]] (transferred to TAC, later MAC, now AMC)
* [[Mountain Home AFB]] (transferred to TAC<!-- 1966 -->, now ACC)
* [[Naval Air Station Albany|Turner AFB]] (transferred to USN as NAS Albany in 1968, closed 1975)

With the Vietnam War draw-down following the Paris Peace Treaty in 1973, reduced defense budgets forced SAC to inactivate several more wings, close still more bases in CONUS and Puerto Rico, transfer still additional bases to other MAJCOMS or the Air Reserve Component, and retire older B-52B, B-52C, B-52E and B-52F aircraft:
* [[Davis-Monthan AFB]] (transferred to TAC, now ACC)
* [[Forbes AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Forbes ANGB)
* [[Glasgow Air Force Base|Glasgow AFB]] (closed)
* [[Kincheloe AFB]] (closed)
* [[McCoy AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to USN as [[McCoy AFB|Naval Training Center Orlando McCoy Annex]] until its [[Base Realignment and Closure|BRAC]]-directed closure in 1999)
* [[Ramey AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to USCG as CGAS Borinquen)
* [[Rickenbacker AFB]] (closed; portion transferred to ANG as Rickenbacker ANGB)
* [[Westover Air Reserve Base|Westover AFB]] (transferred to AFRES, now AFRC, as Westover ARB)
* [[Wright-Patterson AFB]] (tenant SAC presence departed and transferred to Beale AFB; base remained with AFLC, now AFMC)

In 1973, the [[National Emergency Airborne Command Post]], or NEACP, aircraft entered SAC's inventory.  Consisting of four [[Boeing E-4]] aircraft, these highly modified [[Boeing 747]] airframes were assigned to the [[55th Wing|55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]] at [[Offutt AFB]] and were forward deployed as necessary to support the [[National Command Authority (United States)|National Command Authority]].

[[File:Strategic Air Command Information cover 1975.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Cover of a 1975 SAC information booklet emphasizing its "Peace Is Our Profession" motto]]

By 1975, SAC's manned bomber strength included several hundred B-52D, B-52G, B-52H and FB-111A aircraft,{{r|Lloyd}} and "...SAC's first major exercise in 23 years" was Exercise Global Shield 79.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O3NAAAAAIBAJ&pg=5934,942311&dq=global-shield+strategic-air-command&hl=en|title=Sunday Union - Google News Archive Search|access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> As for the ICBM force, SAC reached a peak strength of 1000 Minuteman II and III and 54 Titan II ICBMs on active status before seeing reductions and retirements through a combination of obsolescing systems and various arms reduction treaties with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hefner |first=[first name tbd] |year=2012 |title=The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674059-11-5}}</ref>

By 1977, SAC had been pinning its hopes for a new manned strategic bomber in the form of the [[B-1 Lancer|Rockwell B-1A Lancer]].  However, on 30 June 1977, President [[Jimmy Carter]] Carter announced that the B-1A would be canceled in favor of ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and a fleet of modernized B-52s armed with air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs).

On 1 December 1979, SAC assumed control of the [[BMEWS|ballistic missile warning system]] (BMEWS) and all [[Space Surveillance Network]] facilities from the inactivating [[Aerospace Defense Command]] (ADC).<ref name=Winkler>{{cite report |last1=Winkler |first1=David F |last2=Webster |first2=Julie L |date=June 1997 |title=Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |location=Champaign, IL |lccn=97020912 |publisher=U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories |page=48 |access-date=2013-04-23 |archive-date=1 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201202922/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231 |url-status=dead }}</ref> These activities would later be (transferred to [[Air Force Space Command]] (AFSPC) when the latter was established in 1982.  SAC also continued to operate the Air Force's entire KC-135 aerial refueling fleet, its EC-135 LOOKING GLASS and E-4 NEACAP command post aircraft, as well the entire strategic reconnaissance aircraft fleet consisting of the U-2, SR-71, RC-135, and WC-135.

In 1981, SAC received a new air refueling tanker aircraft to supplement the aging [[KC-135 Stratotanker]] force.  Based on the [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]] commercial airliner, the [[KC-10A Extender]] was deployed equipped with improved military avionics, aerial refueling, and satellite communications equipment.{{r|factsheets}}  That same year, President [[Ronald Reagan]] reversed the 1977 Carter administration decision regarding the B-1, directing that 100 examples of a refined version of the aircraft, now designated the B-1B Lancer, be procured as a long-range combat aircraft for SAC.

The [[LGM-118A Peacekeeper]] ICBM reached SAC in 1986, and the 114 Peacekeepers had a total warhead yield of about 342 megatons.{{r|factsheets}}  This also served to offset the retirement of the obsolescent and maintenance-intensive [[LGM-25C Titan II]] ICBM, the last example of which was deactivated in May 1987.  An additional underground "16,000 square-foot, two-story reinforced concrete" command post for HQ SAC was also constructed at Offutt AFB from 1986 to 1989 from a design by [[Leo A. Daly]], who had designed the adjoining 1957 bunker.{{r|Weitze}} The first [[Rockwell B-1B Lancer]] was also delivered to SAC in 1987.{{r|Baugher}}

On 22 November 1988, the [[Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit]], under development as the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB), a so-called [[Black project|"black program"]] since 1979, was officially acknowledged and rolled out for the first time for public display.  The first "[[stealth bomber]]" designed for SAC, the aircraft made its first flight in May 1989.