That tape is covering the tail assembly which covers the parachute assembly.
Posted on 04/03/2023 10:50:02 AM PDT by McGruff
One of the US nuclear bombs stored at a Dutch air base may have been damaged in a recent accident, according to a report published on Monday, which comes at a time when a new generation of the weapons are due to arrive on the continent.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) discovered a photograph of a B61 bomb being inspected for damage by US soldiers, including two from an explosive ordnance disposal unit, and a civilian. The rear of the bomb appears to have been twisted by an impact and one of the tail fins is missing. There is pink sticky tape covering an apparent hole.
A FAS report on Monday said the picture was included in a 2022 presentation for student job applicants by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, one of the country’s nuclear weapons facilities, and it geolocated the image to the Volkel air force base in the Netherlands, one of six bases in five European countries where a total of 100 B61 nuclear gravity bombs are currently stored as part of a nuclear-sharing agreement with the US.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking”
Yup, my maintenance experience too. To err is human, to forgive is not SAC policy.,
Coming on the heels of multiple US nuclear commanders and leaders being fired for failing readiness tests, and as the Biden brain trust and the perfumed princes of the Pentagon rattle nuclear sabers vs Russia, this does not bode well for the US. Cheating and drug scandals among the missile crews, continued failed hypersonic missile tests, and an absence of new nuclear investments over the past twenty years, while Russia (after the pause due to the Yeltsin Clinton looting of Russia) has spent lavishly on both strategic nuclear technologies and ABM- I think the USA will be at a considerably more vulnerable position vis a vis nuclear conflict with Russia or China than most realize.
To err is human, to forgive is not SAC policy.
That’s the environment I was raised in, so when I was at the tail end of my career at the Pentagon and I heard about the 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident , I thought, now way in hell that happened.
Well, SAC died in 1993 and by 2007 something that egregious did happen.
nor is forgiveness the policy of the United States Navy. At least in the 70s.
That certainly does look like a B61. Crazy.
Does the guy that took this photograph get 5 years in Ft. Leavenworth, like that poor submariner who took a selfie in the engine room?
Rodent Damage.
I wonder how the people feel that live near the base.
Considering the size of the country, EVERYBODY lives near that base.
Some of those markers-like EOD, CBRNE (like I wore) and MP are not embroidered patches, they are a solid printed-type IR visible (i think) emblem. At least they were when I was in...
PINK STICKY TAPE:
Nothing in the world that cannot be fixed with duct tape & baling wire.
But go ahead ... hyperventilate along with them.
Pink duct tape seems to have fixed the nose but with that bend in the middle it might just loop back to go kaboom at the launch pad.
yup, that polished metal always gets tour attention...
Did Mayor Pete recently transfer from Transportation over to Defense?
That tape is covering the tail assembly which covers the parachute assembly.
LOL it sure does. It was neat looking, but I thought “That has to be fake. We don’t have nuclear weapons that look like that!”
But we did.
Back in our CV this picture would not exist for public viewing and anyone wanting a picture would be a M-16 popsicle. Nor did you take pictures of subs at the pier.
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