A high-ranking Defense Department official calls Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster “critical to today’s fight.”

Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton says the Stealth Bomber and the creation of the Global Strike Command next year at Whiteman means the base will have a long future. The new command, which will control flights of the Predator airplanes throughout the world, should be operational in October.