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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six nuclear warheads on cruise missiles were mistakenly carried on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week, prompting a major investigation, military officials have confirmed.
The plane took the cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base for decommissioning Thursday, the Air Force said.
"This is a major gaffe, and it's going to cause some heads to roll down the line," said Don Shepperd, a retired Air Force major general and military analyst for CNN.
The warheads should have been removed from the missiles before they were attached to the B-52 bomber, according to military officials.
The crew was unaware that the plane was carrying nuclear weapons, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the extraordinary sensitivity and security surrounding the case.
I first read this at work and I sit next to a guy that used to handle nukes when he was in the Air Force.. From what he told me this isn't a really big deal and I think the rest of us assume they take MUCH better care of these things than they actually do... I was amazed at how nonchalant he was with this and he actually said it would be easy to do this...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the warheads in question are never activated unless a strike is imminent. These were just very heavy dud bombs unless armed, right?
I mean, if a nuke were to accidentally roll off the wing and hit --say, Berkeley, or Cambridge, Mass -- nothing much would happen except maybe a smashed bong or some spilled sun tea. Or a startled nude volleyball game.
good question and I'll have to ask my coworker tomorrow... I used to ASSume that, but now I don't know what to think about the nuclear weapons program..
I used to think it was more of an elite cadre of individuals, especially with the PRP program and all. Now I'm beginning to think it was basically just another job that happened to be around seriously nasty things that can make your day suck really, REALLY bad...
Something about this whole story seems very odd. 1.) Why would they announce this even in the first place to the public and 2). Why are the announcing to the world that they are grounding all fighter and bomber planes on the 14th?
Below is the original (although updated) article from armytimes.com and I think they'd be the most informative as it's their story. The cnn.com article seemed a little too flowery compared to the armytimes.com one and, well, I just don't have a lot of faith in cnn....
Below is the original (although updated) article from armytimes.com and I think they'd be the most informative as it's their story. The cnn.com article seemed a little too flowery compared to the armytimes.com one and, well, I just don't have a lot of faith in cnn....
that no-fly thing is only for stateside fighters and bombers and is a very common occurence after a major oops..
I still don't understand why they would broadcast it to the world, though. Especially the part about the planes here in the U.S. being grounded on the 14th. Seems like a security issue. But then again, an open border with Mexico and now Mexican trucks coming through on our roadways seems like a
security issue also... but what the hell, nothing makes sense anymore - so I guess it's all par for the course.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the warheads in question are never activated unless a strike is imminent. These were just very heavy dud bombs unless armed, right?
I mean, if a nuke were to accidentally roll off the wing and hit --say, Berkeley, or Cambridge, Mass -- nothing much would happen except maybe a smashed bong or some spilled sun tea. Or a startled nude volleyball game.
Yeah. They were saying it was a serious error but not dangerous cause it's not possible to detonate due to them not being armed at that time.
The plane was moving missles and the warheads were supposed to be taken off, but in reality they weren't.
Not a big problem imo. Announcing to the world all fighters and bombers will be grounded is the stupidest thing ever though.
Years ago they dropped a couple off of planes flying out of Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC - they fell into some fields and were buried quite a few feet down - no harm done in the end. Just a big embarrassment for the military.
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