ISLAMABAD – The COVID-19 outbreak has not spared the American militaryaffecting two of its aircraft carriers, several foreign bases, and at least6,754 servicemen.
The American military remains combat-ready and prepared to utilise itsnuclear arsenal if the US ends up in a major armed conflict even despitethe challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak US Air Force Global StrikeCommander Tim Ray has said in a statement.
“Rest assured, we have taken the necessary steps to make sure our bomberand ICBM forces are ready to go and can reach any target on the planet atany time. We are fully mission ready and COVID-19 will not change that. Ourforces continue to maintain an extremely high level of readiness andresponsiveness”, Tim Ray said.
The Air Force statement clarifies that it began developing procedures tooperate during the pandemic and keep its personnel healthy while thecoronavirus was still confined within China’s borders in January. Thedeveloped containment plans allowed the USAF to limit the spread of thevirus allowing both its aircraft and missile force crews to remainoperational.
To achieve that the Air Force had to adopt certain measures ensuring”certain degrees of isolation” to keep the teams separate while preservingthe operability of its intercontinental missiles and nuclear-capablebombers.
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“We get paid to do this mission under all conditions. Not just some, butall conditions. This is a terrible set of circumstances, but we have to beprepared to do this job under far worse circumstances”, the US AFGWcommander added.
However, despite all efforts to contain the disease, some 6,754servicemen have been infected across the American military, according to 29April data from the Department of Defence. The outbreak has affectedseveral US foreign bases and two deployed aircraft carriers. The militaryhas not always been able to detect the source of the COVID-19 infectionwith its origin on board of the USS Theodore Roosevelt still reportedly amystery. – APP
