America prepares to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour alert for first time since 1991 

Donald Trump, the US President
Donald Trump, the US President Credit: Mark Wilson

America’s Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour standby for the first time in a quarter of a century amid escalating tensions with North Korea.

The move would see B-52 planes carrying nuclear weapons sitting on the runway at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and ready to fly when given the order.

It would be the first time the status was put in place since 1991, when the Cold War was nearing an end.

Gen. David Goldfein, the US Air Force chief of staff, said that while the command had not yet been given the military was preparing itself for the change.

“This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” he told the online publication Defence One.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un Credit: KCNA / Reuters

He went on: “The world is a dangerous place and we’ve got folks that are talking openly about use of nuclear weapons.”


During the four decades they were stationed on the runway the loaded B-52s had become a symbol of the threat of nuclear apocalypse during the Cold War.

The fleet of eight-engined planes were stood down by President George Bush in an arms control package announced in September 1991.

Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been trading insults in an escalating war of words over the regime’s nuclear ambitions.

Mr Trump has threatened “fire and fury” unless North Korea stops its attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon, while Mr Kim called the President a “deranged US dotard”.

Mr Trump will be making a trip to Asia next month in an attempt to rally support for his tough line on North Korea.

On Monday he called Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, to congratulate him on his election victory and pledge to continue their  “strong” alliance.