PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Conducts Its Own Nuclear War Exercise

May 12, 2014 (EtIRNS)—Just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a broad scale exercise of Russia’s nuclear forces, U.S. Strategic Command announced, yesterday, that it would also be conducting exercises involving U.S. strategic nuclear forces. Exercise Global Lightning 14 is to run from May 12-16 "in coordination with other combatant commands, services, and appropriate U.S. government agencies to deter and detect strategic attacks against the U.S. and its allies." Units involved in the exercise will fly up to ten B-52 and six B-2 bombers "to demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness in the training scenarios throughout the continental U.S." according to the Stratcom release, which otherwise provides few details.

"This exercise provides unique training opportunities to incorporate the most current technology and techniques in support of our mission. Continued focus and investment in our strategic capabilities allow USSTRATCOM to deter, dissuade, and defeat current and future threats to the U.S. and our allies,"

said Stratcom commander Adm. Cecil Haney.

Both Russia Today and the Washington Free Beacon’s Bill Gertz note the timing of the exercise, beginning only four days after Russia’s nuclear force exercise, but Stratcom went out of its way to disabuse us of the notion that one has anything to do with the other. "Exercise Global Lightning 14 has been planned for more than a year and is based on a notional scenario," the Stratcom release says. "The timing of the exercise is unrelated to real-world events."