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Artist: Lt. Col. Warren Neary
Medium: Oil on Panel
Date: 2015
The United States Air Force provides the President of the United States of America with two legs of the strategic triad, which consists of strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine launched ballistic missiles. The long range strike capability of the Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit represented the bomber leg of the strategic triad. Capable of projecting nuclear military power across the globe at any time and place, the strategic triad provides an influential backstop for America’s other instruments of power.
On 18 March 2013, the Air Force Reserve Command’s 307th Bomb Wing, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, reached a milestone when it passed its Initial Nuclear Surety Inspection (NSI). The NSI certified the 307th Bomb Wing personnel were fully qualified to perform the Air Force’s nuclear mission. The certification made the 307th Bomb Wing’s 343rd Bomb Squadron and the 707th Maintenance Squadron the Air Force Reserve Command’s first nuclear squadrons.
This painting depicts the great Airmen of the 307 BW in a nuclear aircraft generation exercise with pilots, navigators, maintainers, and security forces members ramping up a mission on a cool, early morning at Barksdale AFB.