US Air Force takes its nuclear missles for a walk...

[Che Guava]

...whoops!

US B-52 in nuclear cargo blunder

The US Air Force has launched an investigation after a B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with nuclear-armed missiles.

It follows reports in the Army Times that five missiles were unaccounted for during the three-hour flight from North Dakota to Louisiana.

The air force said the cruise missiles were safe at all times.

Army Times said the missiles were to be decommissioned but were mistakenly mounted on the bomber's wings.

The W80-1 warhead has a yield of five to 150 kilotons, the paper said.

'Decertified'

The flight took place on 30 August, from the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to the Barksdale Air Force Base, near Bossier City, in Louisiana.

Air force spokesman Lt Col Ed Thomas said although this was an "isolated incident", Air Combat Command had directed a "command-wide stand down to review process at all of our bases".

Col Thomas said a general had been appointed to investigate the incident and would report by 14 September.

"At no time was there a threat to public safety. It is important to note that munitions were safe, secure and under military control at all times," Col Thomas said.

"The air force takes its mission to safeguard weapons seriously. No effort will be spared to ensure that the matter is thoroughly and completely investigated."

Army Times quoted the colonel as saying the loading crew involved had been temporarily "decertified" pending retraining and the investigation.

A military official told AFP news agency that President George W Bush had been informed of the mix-up.

"There are procedures in place and they kicked in and worked," the official said.

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says experts have made it clear that if the plane had crashed there would not have been a nuclear explosion but there could have been a threat from plutonium leakage.

link

Before anyone gets upset: no, I'm not trying to make any kind of statement about the competency of the US Airforce or the threat of nuclear accidents in america! I just thought that this was an interesting little snafu that folks might like to hear about

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Wow, someone got demoted bigtime for that one.

By the way, love the Kipling quote. I have that book lying around here, I should read it sometime.

 

[wicshade]

yeah i heard this a couple of hours ago on npr, not much one could say about it though.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

I blame the Jews.

 

[Ecofarm]

Has Putin scrambled the interceptors and launched warhead-armed bombers yet?

 

[Colonel]

hmm, *note to self in a few years make sure not to load nuclear bombs on planes that aren't supposed to have them.

 

[Defiance]

Thats happened more times then a few.

I believe one was actually dropped in a swamp in one of the southern states and was never found


There was a documentary on T.V. I watched about it, it sunk into the swamp I guess and they never found it.

It has happened more then a couple tho.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Four were accidentally dropped over Spain in 1966; is this what you were thinking of?

Edit: I think you were referring to the one in Faro, North Carolina in 1961, but the Spanish one is another fairly well-known incident.

 

[Ecofarm]

Thats happened more times then a few.

I believe one was actually dropped in a swamp in one of the southern states and was never found

There was a documentary on T.V. I watched about it, it sunk into the swamp I guess and they never found it.

It has happened more then a couple tho.

From what I understand, the sunken nukes leaked and resulted in a "swamp thing" that terrorizes murky backwaters even to this day.

Source?

 

[truckingpete]

I live near that Air Base in North Dakota....

 

[QuoVadisNation]

A few were accidentally dropped in the Gulf of Mexico and in Mexico itself during the fifties. But since the trigger wasn't activated, nothing exploded. Don't have the source, though.

Is 150 kilotons a lot?

 

[Irish Caesar]

From what I understand, the sunken nukes leaked and resulted in a "swamp thing" that terrorizes murky backwaters even to this day.

Source?

Here's one; I'll let you decide how good it is...

http://www.ibiblio.org/bomb/testing.html

Is 150 kilotons a lot?

The Hiroshima bomb was ~13 kT, Nagasaki ~21 kT.

 

[Colonel]

no Quo, the the 150 kiloton nukes they are talking about are relatively low yield. Most likely as these were on their way to be decommissioned I would guess they are most likely those tactical level nukes that NATO had planned to use on Soviet troops if they began an invasion of West Europe. Low yield by design so they create limited damage.

A high yield would be something like 15Megatons.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

no Quo, the the 150 kiloton nukes they are talking about are relatively low yield. Most likely as these were on their way to be decommissioned I would guess they are most likely those tactical level nukes that NATO had planned to use on Soviet troops if they began an invasion of West Europe. Low yield by design so they create limited damage.

A high yield would be something like 15Megatons.

Tactical nukes have a yield of <5 kilotons. A 150 kiloton warhead is a fairly respectable piece of weaponry.

 

[A1CBOZ]

That's why I don't work on the flightline...

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

no Quo, the the 150 kiloton nukes they are talking about are relatively low yield. Most likely as these were on their way to be decommissioned I would guess they are most likely those tactical level nukes that NATO had planned to use on Soviet troops if they began an invasion of West Europe. Low yield by design so they create limited damage.

A high yield would be something like 15Megatons.

The largest bomb in the American arsenal is 9 megatons.

 

[Fetus4188]

Tactical nukes have a yield of <5 kilotons. A 150 kiloton warhead is a fairly respectable piece of weaponry.

A 5 kiloton bomb is a fairly respectable weapon, but 150 kt is nothing compared to big boys.

 

[A1CBOZ]

The largest bomb in the American arsenal is 9 megatons.

And you got that info from were?

 

[frob2900]

Tactical nukes have a yield of <5 kilotons. A 150 kiloton warhead is a fairly respectable piece of weaponry.

Yup. 150kT is 10 times Hiroshima and around 7 times Nagasaki. Tactical nukes are indeed on the order of 1-5 kT or even lower.

Obligatory wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield

And you got that info from were?

You can get it from the obligatory wiki link I posted. Or did you mean a "real" source?

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Four were accidentally dropped over Spain in 1966; is this what you were thinking of?

Edit: I think you were referring to the one in Faro, North Carolina in 1961, but the Spanish one is another fairly well-known incident.

They dropped one on/off the coast of British Columbia once too.