<p>The 1970s was to be the 'decade of Europe', some said, with the US returning to its traditional allies after its disastrous flirtation in Asia. The threat came from the Warsaw Pact, which could to pour tens of thousands of main battle tanks through Germany's Fulda Gap. The defense of Europe, coupled with a microcosm of exactly the same military situation on the Korean peninsula, prompted the creation of the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II, the inimitable 'Warthog', designed to kill tanks with a far-reaching 37-mm gun.
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<p>'Flexible response' was the term in vogue in the Pentagon, and 'mutually assured destruction' was out, but Strategic Air Command continued to soak up more money and require more people than any other single component. The Cold War, first and foremost, was about defeating the Soviet Union in the first crucial hours of an atomic exchange. SAC was the driving force behind the decision to proceed with the new manned bomber that became the Rockwell B-1A (in June 1970). SAC took delivery of its last FB-111 (in June 1971) and its first SRAM (Short-Range Attack Missile) became operational (in March 1972), stretching the reaching power of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. SAC was no longer the colossal force it had been in earlier days, but it could still boast 22 heavy bomb wings, 38 air-refueling squadrons, two medium bomb wings, and 1,560 ICBMs (in December 1973).
