Military probes how nukes flew over U.S.

[Wits' End]

I did a forum search and didn't see anything on this.

Chicago Tribune

.....The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., was flying a dozen advanced cruise missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached........

WASHINGTON - An Air Force B-52 bomber carrying six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads flew across the central United States last week after the nuclear weapons were mistakenly attached to the plane's wing, defense officials said Wednesday.

The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., was flying a dozen advanced cruise missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.

The Air Force quickly launched an investigation that is expected to take several weeks. The munitions squadron commander was relieved of his duties, and crews involved with the mistaken load have been temporarily decertified for handling munitions, one official said.
While acknowledging the seriousness of the error, Air Force officials called it an "isolated incident." They emphasized that the warheads were not activated for use and at no time posed a threat to the public during the 3 1/2-hour trip covering more than 1,100 miles.

Even so, the mistake raised serious questions at a time when the United States is pressuring countries such as Russia to tighten their control over nuclear bombs and the materials that can be used to make such weapons.

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of the weapons "deeply disturbing" and said the committee would press the military for details. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, said it was "absolutely inexcusable."

"Nothing like this has ever been reported before, and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible," Markey said.

The missiles, part of an Air Force fleet of more than 450 of their kind, are in the process of being retired and normally would not carry nuclear warheads while in transit. Defense officials said the B-52's mission on Aug. 30 did not include training runs, so the missiles would not have been launched.

Two defense officials said it is unclear how safeguards for the handling of nuclear weapons were somehow skirted, allowing the missiles with the warheads to be loaded onto a pylon that was then attached to the underside of the B-52's wing.

The aircraft's pilots and crew were unaware that they were carrying nuclear warheads, officials said. Airmen in Louisiana discovered the error after the bomber arrived.

"Essentially, this is an issue of a departure from our very exacting standards," said Lt. Col. Edward Thomas, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon. "The Air Force maintains the highest standards of safety and precision, so any deviation from these well-established munitions procedures is very serious and we are responding swiftly."

According to Air Force officials, the weapons are designed with multiple safety features that ensure the warheads don't accidentally detonate.

Arming the weapons requires a number of stringent protocols and authentication codes that must be followed for detonation. And they are designed to withstand a significant impact, including an aircraft crash, without detonating.

Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, said Defense Secretary Robert Gates was informed of the incident early Friday and has been receiving daily progress reports. Morrell said President Bush also was notified.

The Air Combat Command has ordered a commandwide stand down on Sept. 14 to review procedures, officials said.

The nuclear warheads carried across the central United States ranged from 5 to 150 kilotons in destructive force, according to the Military Times newspapers, which first reported the incident.

"You can wipe out a good-sized city with a 5-kiloton blast," said Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace. "A 150-kiloton warhead is 10 times the size of what they dropped on Hiroshima."

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[half-watt]

I did a forum search and didn't see anything on this.

Chicago Tribune

interesting article.

only one comment...

the final statement, from a GP spokesperson, in the quote is unfortunate. more so, in its placement than in its content. it should NOT be disconnected from previous info in the quote which accurately states that a nuclear detonation would not have been possible had the flight inadvertently crashed.

in order for fissionable material to generate a nuclear "explosion"/detonation, a condition known as PROMPT [neutron] CRITICALITY must be reached (not to be confused with "super critical" which has an entirely different meaning and is not necessarily an undesirable state for nuclear fission depending upon a number of factors). this "prompt critical" state of nuclear fission simply cannot happen in a nuclear warhead without a very precise number (for lack of a better word occurring to me at the moment) of conventional explosive detonations occurring first which would produce a situation giving very rapid rise to "prompt criticality".

hope this one aspect sets any concerned readers at ease.

 

[Marduke]

I read a news report with a totally different version. They knew they were carrying them, but at a stopover, someone forgot to take them off. The big ruckus was that they were "missing" during the 3.5 hour flight from the stopover to final destination, when they discovered they were still attached.

 

[Illum]

nukes are safe as long as no one touches the arming button
theres not much reports of munitions falling off accidentally from planes in much of the history of attack aircrafts

I don't understand why is it a big deal

heres the links I've found
Six of Our Nukes Went Missing -- But Don't Worry [washington post]
U.S. bomber mistakenly loaded with nukes [united press international]
Air Force Admits Bomber Mistakenly Flew Nukes Across U.S [Hispanic Business]
B-52 flew over U.S. with nukes by mistake [Chicago Sun-times]
Error sent six nukes cruising over U.S.; commander fired [York dispatch]

there are numerous other articles but some with varying bits of info

 

[BB]

While it is probably hazardous to the careers of all involved, there was probably little, but not zero, danger to the public at large.

The last published reports I found with quick search:

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Officially, the governments of the nuclear powers are not very forthcoming with information regarding nuclear accidents. The United States last published such a list in 1980, which revealed 32 nuclear accidents or incidents, while Russia has divulged few if any details on such incidents.[/FONT]

From what else I have read, six weapons were never recovered (lost at sea?).

Knew a guy years ago that talked about how paranoid everyone was about handling nuclear weapons. People would be shot by guards (with dogs) if there were any suspicions at all that anyone was not doing their job.

He even did a training exercise where they used a bus and, effectively orange crates, to simulate the nuclear loading and launch with B52. As I remember, one flight crew thought it was a "joke" and refused to sign for the "orange crates" and was severally disciplined for not following procedures (IIRC).

-Bill

 

[Fallingwater]

Man, I seriously wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the guy responsible for this... it's one "whoops" he won't easily forget...

 

[MarNav1]

I have not been in the Air Force but I find it VERY difficult to believe that
nuclear warheads on cruise missles were "mishandled" or "mislabeled" or "mistakenly" loaded. Sounds like a bit of "misinformation" to me.

 

[Illum]

trailing off topic
EDITED

 

[James S]

However, I can imagine that the paperwork could get mishandled so that they didn't know they were supposed to remove them and the plane took off again with them still on board.

I know some of the guys who used to do some of this loading and unloading and this is no joke. Talk about a serious job. But if they didn't have orders to remove them from the plane, then they certainly wouldn't do so. As so often plagues the military and government in general, I'm betting on paperwork malfunction, but it will be interesting to see how it all falls out.

 

[RebelRAM]

Here's another story of an issue while transporting a nuke that happened several years ago.

http://www.thexhunters.com/xpeditions/mk-17_accident.html

 

[greenLED]

..."military intelligence" comes to mind...

 

[Illum]

Here's another story of an issue while transporting a nuke that happened several years ago.

http://www.thexhunters.com/xpeditions/mk-17_accident.html

the part that the bomb dropped into the desert brought back the beginning scene of "the Sum of all fears" to mind

its a good thing theres only HE on board AND it was a desert region

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Anybody that plane flew over was in less danger than of being in a traffic accident.

No biggie for the public. BIG BIGGIE for someone in ACC!!!!

 

[spock]

here is a link http://www.lutins.org/nukes.html to many accidents. look under bombs and bombers. watched a documentary about an h-bomb that fell in a swamp close to savanna, georgia. it is still there buried deep in the mud for many years.

 

[chmsam]

Gee, why should we pay more to bring more sharp thinkers into the military and to better train and retain the people we have now? I mean, things could be worse, right?

The title of the series this came from is "Lost My Job Today."

Go to www (dot) micom (dot) net/oops/lostmyjobtoday1 (dot) jpg

BTW, it's not a nuke and wouldn't have gone off anyway.

Finally, a buddy of mine suggests how we can avoid things like this. He says we must repeat this mantra many, many times during each and every day:

I hate paperwork.
I hate paperwork.
I hate paperwork.

*** OOPS! Sorry for the hotlink. My bad.

 

[Empath]

Please remove the hotlink, and find another way to show us the image.

 

[TedTheLed]

perhaps a charade to scare off a 9-11 attack. then again I hear La. (specifically Barksdale? I don't know) is where they would stockpile nukes before flying them off to destroy something, somewhere..

 

[PhantomPhoton]

The whole thing smells of diversion, and mis-direction. Those nukes were not being transported by accident. What I want to know is where are they headed. Someone spun up the whole transported across the US to whip up some fear in those less educated to divert attention from the fact that "they" are moving some big nukes to some place.
Perhaps, just maybe like, oh, I dunno, close to Iran. :tsk:

The board is being set. Are you paying attention to everything or are you just watching the queen?

 

[BB]

Update on military probe:

The Air Force has decided to relieve at least five of its officers of command and is considering filing criminal charges in connection with the Aug. 29 "Bent Spear" incident in which nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly flown from North Dakota to Louisiana, two senior Air Force officials said yesterday.

Although senior Defense Department officials have not been fully briefed on the results of an Air Force probe of the incident, the sources said that at least one colonel is expected to lose his position and that several enlisted personnel will also be punished as part disciplinary actions that could be among the toughest meted out by the Air Force in years.
...
A senior Air Force official familiar with the investigation said officers will be relieved at both installations involved in the incident: Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and Barksdale Air Force Base, La. A colonel commanding one of the Air Force wings is likely to be the highest-ranking officer to be relieved, the official said.

In addition, the official said, letters of reprimand will be issued to several enlisted service members. The personnel actions may be followed by criminal charges against one or more people, but that course of action is still being discussed at the highest levels of the Air Force, he added. The most likely such charge, he said, would be either dereliction of duty or willful disobedience of an order.
...
Although some details are not yet publicly known, officials familiar with the investigation say the problem originated at Minot when a pylon carrying six nuclear-armed cruise missiles was mistaken for one carrying unarmed missiles. Minot had been in the midst of shipping unarmed cruise missiles to Barksdale for decommissioning.

That initial mistake was followed by many other failures, ultimately allowing six nuclear warheads to slip outside the Air Force's normal safeguards for more than 36 hours. The warheads were airborne for more than three hours and sat for long periods on runways at both air bases without a special guard....

-Bill

 

[scott.cr]

Get 'em while they're "hot!" A Cold War era Geiger counter with modern mods!

I talked to the crazy old coot that makes these things on the phone yesterday. Interesting guy...