B-52s Launch with Nukes

Yep. You'd think someone somewhere would have checked into what was going on and questioned why the weapons were transported in the mode they were.

Perhaps Jack Ripper heard about the new fluoridation plant being built for the city of New Orleans and decided to do something about it. I hear Slim Pickens was at the controls.
 
OMGOSH!!!! When my husband was tactical, they let them take the nukes out once a year, put them on the plane, taxi, then go back to the Tab V's, have the nukes taken off, then wait for another year.

I cannot believe that happened!! Ooooooh! :frown:
 
Somebody is gonna get a black eye me thinks. Ouch.
 
A commander has already been fired and the loading ground crews lost their weapons handling certs. However, Congress doesn't appear to be too happy and I can guess there will be some investigations.
 
Yep, as an ex-squadron special weapons officer, I cannot even begin to count the violations. I can't wait for the official explanation.
 
Do you guys think there will be an official explanation or will it be kept in-house so to speak? I understand that this has happened before but not over state lines. Huge article in our paper about it today. Kinda leaves one scratching their head over how the heck it could have been possible. "Who's on first!?" LOL
 
At least they are all accounted for this time.

According to the 1998 book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, published by the Brookings Institute, the US has lost (never recovered) 11 nuclear weapons at sea (4 by the US Navy and 7 by the US Air Force).

I understand that this recent mistake put us in no danger. The weapons were not armed, not even if the plane crashed would they have detonated in a nuclear explosion. Radiation contamination, yes, but not an atomic nuclear explosion.

I would worry more about the massive gasoline pipelines that run under our streets and towns than a B-52 under the control of the United States Air Force.
 
Luigi59 said:
I would worry more about the massive gasoline pipelines that run under our streets and towns than a B-52 under the control of the United States Air Force.
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Based on the recent events I'm not sure the control is all that good. And reliable thought they may be, the B-52's have been in active service since 1955; heck, some of them are older than I am! Just a thought.
 
I don't consider the problem an actual emergency. We flew all the time with nukes for many many years. The accountability snafus that had to occur for this to happen is monumental. Tantamount to a few nukes just lying around as far as I can see.
 
The problem isn't that they flew with nukes (in my eyes) but that the pilots were completely unaware. It's not much of a stretch for a training mission to take place with dummy missiles "accidentally" loaded with nuclear warheads. Now, even if the warheads weren't armed it wouldn't look real good for them to be launched. And then they'd have to be recovered.
 
How did nukes not show up on a final walk around? My husband's jaw dropped.
 
This is what the guys in the wardroom used to call "not a career-enhancing move".

While American bombers flying over American soil with American nukes causes me no concern at all, the fact that five of these things simply got "missed" is a tad disconcerting.

Of course, everything we are hearing about this may be a cover story for something else. Who knows? :confused:
 
Now they have upgraded it to 6 nukes -

Zap - you may be on to something - cover story. I seriously don't understand how 6 nukes could go missing - there are so many checks and balances.
What if they were moved on purpose? The story got out and the commander was relieved - not because of the nukes but because his men couldn't keep their mouth shut. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I have a feeling there is a story behind this story.....
 
The episode, serious enough to trigger a rare "Bent Spear" nuclear incident report that raced through the chain of command to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and President Bush, provoked new questions inside and outside the Pentagon about the adequacy of U.S. nuclear weapons safeguards while the military's attention and resources are devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The media just can't help themselves, can they? :mad:

This incident had NOTHING to do with either Iraq or Afghanistan! What, are they suggesting the military can't walk and chew gum at the same time?

What happened here is too many people weren't paying attention to what they were doing, and signed off on stuff they had not verified with their own eyeballs. That can happen at the height of peacetime, too.

Sheesh. You'd think they'd be able to shut up about their damned agenda for 15 seconds to just report the facts, but NOOOOOOOOOO. :rolleyes: :mad:

USNA69 said:
The AF's now newly instigated policy of storing both nukes and conventionals in the same area is unsat.
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It would certainly seem so. I wonder who came up with that (really dumb) idea?
 
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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.
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Why would officers at Barksdale be relieved? How were they supposed to know Minot had screwed the pooch?

Are we missing something? :confused:
 
Being from tacintel (tactical intelligence) I find it improbable, if not down right impossible, for this to have happened. The system of checks and balances are very thorough. To many safe guards have to transpire for this to be a mere accident. It seems that someone opened their mouth. The public needed to be sated. I am sure that this is a security issue and that heads, that we will never hear about, will roll. There will be loss of a security clearance and some airman is going to find out that the air force is dead serious about security issues.
 
mdlrnc, I am not sure what you are saying. It obviously happened. All of us who have been around nukes thought that it would be impossible for something like this to happen. Are you defining security as leaks to the press? If so, I am sure that is the least of their worries.

The Barksdale people were relieved because the aircraft and crew were from there. The aircrew did not conform to proper procedure by personally checking each missile. Hence their and their supervisor's firing.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/airforce_nuke_briefing_071019/
 
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