ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force is creating a major command to deal solely with its nuclear mission, Air Force officials said Friday.

Global Strike Command is expected to become operational in September 2009, and it will be in charge of nuclear missiles and "nuclear-coded" B-2 and B-52 bombers, officials told reporters on Friday.

Officials did not have specific information on how many airmen will be assigned to the new command or how much it will cost to set up.

Global Strike Command will be led by a three-star general, and it will comprise the intercontinental ballistic missile forces of 20th Air Force and the nuclear-coded bombers of 8th Air Force, said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley.

That does not mean that B-2 and B-52 bombers will no longer support conventional forces, Donley said.

"If they’re needed by the theater commander, they can be requested," he said.

It has not been determined who will lead the command and where it will be located, Donley said.

The decision to create a new major command is one of a series of steps the Air Force is taking to reorganize its nuclear enterprise.

Another step involves creating a new Air Staff directorate, the A 10, to "to increase institutional focus, headquarters oversight and integration for nuclear issues," said Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff.

The moves come as the service is taking a look at how it handles its nuclear mission after a series of nuclear goofs prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to fire the top Air Force leadership.

In September, an independent task force looking into how the Air Force handles nuclear weapons suggested that Air Force Space Command assume responsibility for the nuclear mission.

One reason the Air Force opted to create a new major command instead is that it decided to make Space Command in charge of the cyber mission, Shwartz said.

"It was our conclusion that a major command that did space, cyber and nuclear perhaps was too much for a single organization to address with the necessary focus," he said.