In Error, B-52 Flew Over U.S. With Nuclear-Armed Missiles

Washington Post ^ | September 6, 2007

[starlifter]

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.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Strangelove.

[Yo-Yo]

Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.)

[T-Bird45]

How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unaccounted for for at least 15 hours.

Former Army tactical missile nuke guy here with questions on USAF procedures:

1. Are ACMs always mated with warheads, whether HE or nuke?

2. Is it normal USAF procedure to bring out the nukes for anything other than an elevated DEFCON setting? Given the satellite abilities of most of our enemies, I would think that evidence of weapons being drawn from the Special Weapons bunkers (which are obviously different than regular bunkers due to the exclusion areas) would lead to excitement by the Russians, etc. From my Army experience in Germany during the Cold War, we were only admitted to the war stock storage area once for a practice upload of missile motors but not for warheads -- we were never given access inside the exclusion area.

3. Why would the pilots fly this load? Were they not required to sign for the weapons in order to know to maintain the two-man rule?

This whole matter just smells...

[Deaf Smith]

People tend to forget about SAC and the Cold War.

[Liberty Valance]

This story only makes me wonder what the real story is.

[Pistolshot]

Nukes for the AF and some for the Navy don't have the 'physics' package loaded on them, so you might have the entire explosives blocks without the plutonium.

Remember these were going for dismantling and most likely had no package loaded. Those have a huge amount of security around them.

[Ranger Warrior]

“Armed?” I thought that the only way to arm Nucs was to have the codes...

[JamesP81]

If it is a mistake, I suppose some discipline is in order, but I wonder if this isn’t being blown out of proportion. After all, the bomber in question is designed to carry those weapons and the pilots that fly it are trained to carry them and, as the article pointed out, they never left Air Force control.

[386wt]

People tend to forget about SAC and the Cold War.

Yeah. I remember because my old boss was General Curtis LeMay! (I was way way down his chain of command.)

[Cicero]

I also wondered. Not that it happened, but why it was leaked to the press.

Many many years ago, I worked as a Hawk Missile Pulse Acquisition Radar repairman at a guided missile test base just south of White Sands. I heard a story that someone in a visiting contingent had lost the paperwork on a Nike missile. To solve the discrepancy—having a missile but no paperwork on it—they loaded the excess missile up in a deuce and a half, drove it out into the desert, and buried it.

Then the paperwork matched the inventory again. Problem solved.

These things happen. No doubt, if they become known, the culprits should be duly punished. But what purpose is served by leaking the story to the Washington Post? (As if I had to ask.)

[RightWhale]

It was six, then. The many other threads said five, although the many radio news reports said six all along.

[CholeraJoe]

Having spent a great deal of my military career at bases where nuclear weapons were stored, moved, loaded and unloaded on a daily basis, I have a hard time believing that this was an accident.

Nuclear weapons in my day could only be airborne when married to their delivery system in two circumstances: 1) Valid, authenticated EWO message from the National Command Authority; 2) Imminent attack of the base or natural disaster requiring flush launch for asset protection (Buggy Ride).

There were multiple failures of the positive control procedures for weapons.

[goodnesswins]

Yeah....I’m thinking.....if they were going to be used...they’d have to fly them somewhere, too....so what’s the big deal?

[Delmarksman]

I have two thoughts here.
1)We did this knowingly to send a message to someone and then let it be leaked. (Iran, Russia, Islamakazis?)

2)If this was an accidental loading of Nukes, how is it the media found out?
It’s not like they are sitting on the Tarmac watching planes’ ordinance being loaded/unloaded.

[CholeraJoe]

Even if the reporters were watching, the missiles with concrete warheads look like the real thing to the untrained eye.

[Loyal Buckeye]

O.K., I have it figured out.

Cheney was p. o.’d some of the levees were left standing. He’s really going to fix that before he’s out of office.

[Ukiapah Heep]

It's OK boys, just drop 'em off on Madison Wis. on the way home.

[gulfcoast6]

You ALL have missed it, going back to bomb the levees in New Orleans and make SURE the job is done this time (ordered by Bush of course).

[abseaman]

TYhis store is what? two days old.

[Gorzaloon]

I’m suspicious. If it happened, why was it leaked to the press? Sounds like notification to Ahmadinejad that American nukes are on the move.

I cannot imagine any other scenario whereby the story could possibly appear anywhere.

But then, I am dating myself, to back when security clearances meant something, and some information really was classified, and leakers had *problems* with people in business suits showing up.