Major General Mike Lutton, USAF
Commander, 20th Air Force
Michael J. Lutton is a career space and missile officer of the United States Air Force. He earned an undergraduate degree from Kent State University in Ohio where he was part of the Air Force ROTC. He has had considerable additional education in military schools and colleges, often with distinction.
He served as weapons officer instructor, weapons squadron operations officer, and weapons squadron commander. He commanded the Air Force’s only group providing initial training for the nation’s space and intercontinental ballistic missile operations and air-launched cruise missile maintenance forces. He served as the weapons officer in the 32nd Air Operations Group and served in Operation Allied Force. He has served in operations abroad.
Prior to his current assignment, Lutton served as the Deputy Director for Nuclear and Homeland Defense Operations, the Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Since July 2020, he is Commander, 20th Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command.
In the News…
The New START treaty with Russia is scheduled to expire in February. With hundreds of billions of dollars in the nuclear modernization efforts in the pipeline already, the expiration of the agreement could cause the price tag to balloon, according to Major General Mike Lutton.
Meanwhile, with less than 90 days remaining to extend the treaty and talks stalled, Lutton, the commander overseeing the nation’s three wings of ICBM missiles said that no operational changes have been ordered.
“Our nation hasn’t decided, and our policymakers haven’t decided,” he said in an interview. “Until those things are determined, there’s really no detail that we can do at this operational level.”
If the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires, however, Russia can add three warheads to each of its hundreds of nuclear missiles in just one of the many mutual caps that would be lifted. Any new nuclear arms race would be costly for America.
