A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...

Atlas, lef, and Titan I, right, intercontinental ballistic missiles were
among several types that entered SAC’s defensive inventory after the
Korean War.
August 1962 respectively) came in time to carry a whole new generation
of miniature nuclear and thermonuclear warheads. The solid-propellant
Minuteman ICBM series followed, beginning in October 1962, and
became the mainstay of SAC’s missile retaliatory force. The U.S. Air
Force was becoming an aerospace force.
Before ICBMs, manned bombers formed the strength behind the
“New Look.” Airmen had argued since World War I that air power was
essentially offensive, but they were compelled to view it as defensive in
light of the damage that resulted from the explosion of even one nuclear
weapon. To detect incoming attacks, President Truman approved the Dis-
tant Early Warning (DEW) radar line which, with Canada’s assent, was
built across its northern territory beginning in 1954. To operate the line
and coordinate their defensive forces, both the United States and Canada
established on September 12, 1957, the binational North American Air
Defense Command (NORAD). A generation of interceptor aircraft began
service, beginning with the F-89 and F-100, succeeded by the F-102,
F-106, and F-15. For a time anti-air defenses included surface-to-air mis-
siles such as the Nike Ajax system. The development of several follow-
up designs occurred, but none was deployed. In the early 1960s the Air
Force reinforced NORAD with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Sys-
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