[Pistolshot]

I doubt seriously the “physics package” was inserted in these. Those are heavily guarded and the 2-man rule applies when moving them.

[Drew68]

I doubt seriously the “physics package” was inserted in these. Those are heavily guarded and the 2-man rule applies when moving them.

IIRC, a previous article stated that these weapons did not have the arming devices needed for detonation. Still, the real fear is that the USAF could be so sloppy in their custody of nuclear weapons.

[khnyny]

This is from the WP article:

An Air Force B-52 bomber flew across the central United States last week with six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads that were mistakenly attached to the airplane’s wing, defense officials said yesterday.

The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was transporting a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.

Air Force officials said the warheads were not activated and at no time posed a threat to the public. But a timeline of the episode supplied by the Air Force yesterday to House and Senate lawmakers indicated that the missiles in question sat on a runway in Louisiana for nearly 10 hours before workers noticed that the nuclear warheads were inside.

Military officials also said they were concerned that the warheads were unaccounted for several hours while the missiles were in transit. The missiles never left Air Force control, they said.

The cruise missiles — part of an Air Force fleet of more than 400 of their kind — are being retired and usually would not carry nuclear warheads while being transported. Defense officials said the B-52’s mission last week did not include training runs, so the missiles were never meant to be launched. The cruise missiles have a range of about 2,000 miles and are designed to hit precision targets well behind a potential enemy’s lines.

Two defense officials said it is unclear how stringent safeguards for the handling of nuclear weapons were 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. Air Force officials said the mistake was a serious breach of rules and that an investigation began immediately.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I doubt seriously the “physics package” was inserted in these. Those are heavily guarded and the 2-man rule applies when moving them.

My thoughts exactly.

There may have been fissionable material in the ordnance but there's no way in Hades that they were capable of being armed or detonated.