B52 over America with 6 Nuclear War heads ** a Mistake **
 

Here you go : From The BBC

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...g_news_203.jpg


US B-52 'in nuclear cargo error'

A B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with up to six nuclear-armed missiles, unnamed air force officials are quoted as saying.

The missiles were unaccounted for during a three-hour flight from a North Dakota air base to one in Louisiana.

Air Force spokesman Lt Col Ed Thomas told Army Times the weapons were "always in our custody".

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.

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

There is a 100% certainty that the RAF could not make a similar mistake.

Weeell, fair's fair, with all that stuff dangling under a Buff's wing it'd be easy to miss 'em on the walkround...

'Cos we don't have any B52s?:ok:

CG

Well I must admit I was thinking of the weapons, but on second thoughts, I don't know, and nor should I.

Imagine the surprise when the orderly officer conducts his ammo bunker check!

..."Ok, that's 45 W-80s I count. How many do you make it".

Or the receiving armourers. What the f*** is THAT!!

I think you'll find it was the warheads within the missiles which were supposed to have been removed, not the whole missile assemblies.

If your needing to launch any kind of nuclear strike on the US, do it after September 15th, they are all being stood down pending a review.....:eek:

from the BBC:Ah yes, we have ways and means. 'Retraining'? Sounds nasty. :ouch:

Some pending transfers to an unaccompnied three year tour of Diego Garcia on the horizon.

Who needs 100 ml bottles and nailclippers if you can set out with six nukes under your wings?

Nice quote of a comment attached to USA Today story about this:

"Ironically, it's our military that ensures your right to say stupid things...about our military."

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

Why would they bother ?

Well, I would hope so!

"Bush Narrowly Escapes Massive Nuclear Attack"

Don´t you mean "school Narrowly Escapes Massive Nuclear Attack" :}

Newspapers please take note :rolleyes:

I wonder if the crew went through any practice launch sequences en route?:}

"Iran puzzled by dummy bombs dropped on capital".

Presently mopping keyboard after pint spillage laughing at 1 above!
:}

Come on
Had they moved them by train or road there would be helll to play
They moved them safely by air, transported by the most reliable carrier, inert and safe, and the breaking news tossers think they've got a story
Nuclear missiles are not armed prior to, or after loading, for transit - they are inert
Once loaded the crew will have no way of releasing them actively but will be able to abandon them (emergency safe release) if they have a problem with the aircraft
The worst that can happen is the TNT trigger may explode on impact with a posible release of radiation - but we are not talking mushroom clouds here
More concerning, how on earth does some base "mistakenly" load up a B52 bomber with nuclear missiles/bombs which are "unaccounted for" without the Pentagon, the President, and even the Base Cdr not knowing about this
British Press - give the yanks a break!

Sorry, buoy15 - that won't wash.

At the absolute very least, the world must expect that sane custodians of nukes - of whatever nationality - should know where every one is, and who precisely has responsibility for them, at any given moment.

Not really too much to ask, is it?

LOL......
They couldn't find the WMDs in Iraq.
Now they can't even keep track of their own.

B-52 bomber flown across the US loaded with nuclear-armed missiles.
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7053898.stm

The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly flown across the US loaded with nuclear-armed missiles......

Announcing the results of his six-week investigation, Gen Newton said there had been an "erosion of adherence to weapons-handing standards".

The Americans have a way of saying we screwed up big time,so well.

:D

Second quote made my morning...

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when someone realised they were live nucs........

"Err, Chief".

"Yes Bloggkowski"

"Does this radiation trefoil mean what I think it means".

"Bloggkowski"

"Yes Chief"

"It means we ain't gonna be hitting Hooters at 6 like we planned".....

Such a shame should have dropped the lot on bush and the rest of the USA and done the world a big favour.

They do seem to have cocked up twice, once as reported above and again by going public with the news.:hmm:

But it's Minot, there's no one there.......................

Why have they gone public??:suspect::suspect:

See - over here it's called the Freedom of information Act, meaning you can't hide this stuff, over there it's called a D Notice and the Government buries it. That only means it's harder to be completely stupid while working for the Government here...

PS. If they disciplined 70 people, that means a lot more than that knew about it. That would take some burying.

seemed to bury the Iraq war stuff! Bet a lot more than 70 to 100 people new about that!

Ask the UK government about the time that they "inadvertently" launched the V force on a one-way mission against Moscow. Allegedly. Thankfully, they never got there before being diverted. :oh:

And the purpose of nuclear armed B-52s is............... :hmm:

The same purpose as the nuclear capable Russian bombers that are seen more and more regularly over the North Sea.

Could have been worse, they might have sent them UPS, then they would be in the sh:suspect:!!











BANTER Mr UPS just banter

God, if that's not the truth. Terrible place. :uhoh:

glad rag

But at least they would have got where they were supposed to be going:}

I have to ask - exactly why does this matter?

I'm told they're enormously inert even in the event of a crash (it's little more than a hazmat incident)

The security issue is made tiny simply by the fact that nobody could possibly have known they were there - because they weren't supposed to be.

OK, it's a pan-galactic organisational SNAFU, but as a purely practical matter - so what?

Phil

What worries me is that someone in the bomb dump didn't even count them before going to bed. We had to do that for our thirty 9mm rounds for our Browning pistol!

What a "Carry On" (in the voices of Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams):

"Ere, Sarge, I'm sure we had six more nuclear megadeath bombs on the shelf this morning...."

"Oh, stop it, stop it - ooh, you are such a worrier"! :rolleyes:

Phil,

As a USAF officer and former nuke warrior (in the ground vs aircrew however), on a basically practical matter, you are correct.

There are enormous safeguards designed in to prevent any sort of accidental discharge even in the event of a crash.

From a pragmatic standpoint, however, this is important because these ARE nukes. Not having 100% accountability 100% of the time leaves the possibility open to something being 'misplaced' and not being discovered until something bad happens at a time/place we weren't expecting.

Complacency happened since there's no real thought about the 'good ol' days' of the going 'nukler toe to toe with the Russkis (apologies to Slim Whitman in Dr. Strangelove)' and folks got sloppy.

That is just unacceptable dealing with anything that can go 'boom,' not to mention things that REALLY go boom.

In my opinion...........