Report: Army Planes Mistakenly Flew With Five Nuke Warheads Last Week

USA Today:

Mistakes by U.S. Air Force personnel left five nuclear warheads unaccounted for during a three-hour period on Aug. 30, according to Army Times.

The paper, a fellow Gannett publication, cites anonymous sources who say that five Advanced Cruise Missiles were mistakenly loaded on a B-52 bomber that flew from a base in North Dakota to one in Louisiana. The missiles, set to be decommissioned, should have been removed from the plane. Instead, they were mounted on the bomber's wings.

Read the whole story: USA Today

Comments

[LorettaSingbiel]

10:13 AM on 09/06/2007

“The weapons were always in OUR custody and there was never a danger to the American public.”

Well, isn't it a RELIEF that for those THREE HOURS they were MISSING, they were found to "always be in OUR custody"...NO WORRIES! NO NEED for World Powers to eliminate OUR WMDs, because WE are never a danger!

We SUPPOSEDLY marched into Iraq to prevent THEIR use of WMDs. Yet, WE used WMDs during WWII on Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

By the end of 1945, because of the lingering effects of radioactive fallout and other after effects, the HIROSHIMA death toll was probably over 100,000. The five-year death total may have reached or even exceeded 200,000, as cancer and other long-term effects took hold.

On NAGASAKI, the best estimate is 40,000 people died initially, with 60,000 more injured. By January 1946, the number of deaths probably approached 70,000, with perhaps ultimately twice that number dead within five years.

But OUR excuse then ...We "SAVED" lives.

Well then, IF Saddam had WMDs, perhaps he SHOULD HAVE used them on AMERICA...to "SAVE" lives!

Perhaps we DO need the Iraqi's to DO UNTO US, WHAT WE HAVE DONE UNTO THEM.

Perhaps they SHOULD march into OUR country, hang OUR fearless leader, eliminate OUR WMDs, destroy OUR lifestyles, livelihoods & LIVES, and ... DRUMROLL... "LIBERATE" US!?

Should WE fight back, as THEY are fighting back? Or should WE greet them with candy & flowers?

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[LorettaSingbiel]

10:11 AM on 09/06/2007

"The public wasn't at risk because of SAFEGUARDS that should have kept the warheads from detonating in the event of a crash or accidental launch."

Do they mean THESE "SAFEGUARDS":

"The crew DIDN'T KNOW the weapons were on the bomber."

"U.S. Air Force personnel left five nuclear warheads UNACCOUNTED FOR during a three-hour period."

"Five Advanced Cruise Missiles were MISTAKENLY loaded on a B-52 bomber that flew from a base in North Dakota to one in Louisiana."



“Air Force standards are very EXACTING when it comes to munitions handling.”

Do they mean THIS "EXACTING":

THOUSANDS OF U.S. WEAPONS IN IRAQ MISSING (10-30-06) "The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons — almost 4% of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003."

(Continued...)

[pahpah25]

08:48 AM on 09/06/2007

IF THIS WASN'T SO SCAREY TI WOULD BE FUNNY.....DO YOU FEEL SAFER NOW?..AND THESE ARE THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE OUR DEFNECE?

[WTFbush]

05:45 AM on 09/06/2007

Oh yeah, like who hasn't done that before? Christ, I do that sometimes twice a week! You know hectic schedule, the kids soccer practice, schools back in session. Shit, it happens all the time.

[wigwam]

02:41 AM on 09/06/2007

This entire story has to do with Air Force activity and aircraft. Yet, the headline refers to an Army plane. IMHO, that's nonsense!

The planes in the picture are B52s, which are exclusively Air Force property. Neither the Army nor the Navy has any of them.

[getoffmedz]

01:24 AM on 09/06/2007

Well for once both sides of the aisle smell a rat with this story including the original story.

Having been a member of the USAF and more than a nodding acquaintance with high-value ordinance assets this entire set of circumstances is simply surreal.

Something is VERY WRONG HERE.

[ceasenake]

12:37 AM on 09/06/2007

I didn't know the ARMY flew any B-52's.

I learn great stuff every time I look at HuffPo!

[Gary47]

11:51 PM on 09/05/2007

We all know that the bush administration positions are filled with loyalist political hacks rather than skilled professionals. One wonders how many hacks it takes to mistakenly transport nuclear weapons.

[MikeStrong]

11:32 PM on 09/05/2007

Okay: ROLL MY EYES with hopelessness.

This was ONE AIR FORCE plane (B-52) with multiple nukes in Cruise Missles held in pylons under the wings. I hate to really, really insult anyone but probably even Dubya would know better.

I spent 68-72 in the Air Force and I don't remember a time when planes didn't fly with nukes just in case the "Rooskees" surprised us. I don't know when this stopped being routine or whether it did.

The real problem seems to be one of keeping track of these things. They were off the books for three hours.

All of which puzzles me. Why did this event, which is usually more of an internal accounting matter, become a public story? They lost the custody chain. That is very serious and reveals a hole in security as well as a way to steal nukes but that doesn't seem to have happened.

There was no broken arrow, which would have to have gone public, and I can't imagine that anyone was out of contact with the Air Force bomber (B-52 for the military geniuses who wrote the headline). So did they put out a search? And if so, it seems fairly fast.

The reportage doesn't add up right for me. Although I imagine someone is going to be answering to a colonel at least, more likely a general or two, this doesn't seem to be a damage causing event and the basic operations don't seem all that unusual.

[IronMikeHouston]

07:57 AM on 09/06/2007

I agree 100%! Why is this a story? I'm not a nuke expert but my first reaction is that there are safe guards built that would prevent the loading of a nuclear missile onto an aircraft by mistake. Whoever wrote this story is a complete idiot and has absolutely no common sense. The military doesn't mind talking to this idiot because they know they can lie to the idiot.

Get a real reporter on this story!

BTW, I don't see how the BUSH administration can be blamed for any of this until we know the truth.

[RufusFender]

11:26 PM on 09/05/2007

The headline reads Army planes? The Army doesn't fly B-52s. The Army and Air Force broke apart in 1947 -- 60 years later some of our citizens still aren't aware of it. My head is going to explode!

[TimN]

10:45 PM on 09/05/2007

Having worked around Nukes for about 7 years (3 1/2 years around BUFFs) I'll give my two cents.

It is impossible to accidentally fly a B-52 laden with eitherr ALCMs or ACMs. There are far too many safeguards. So this was either done intentionally or the story is false.

[gro]

09:38 PM on 09/05/2007

Want to read more comments?
Follow this link...
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/09/05/staging-nukes-for-iran/#comment-23260

[TimN]

10:45 PM on 09/05/2007

Your 'Staging Nukes for Iran' story is fabricated. In it the author said that a retired B-52 pilot told him that one of the only two times weapons are put on a plane is when they are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site. This is false. Intact weapons are NEVER flown by B-52s or any other aircraft unless they are flying an actual bombing mission. Nuclear weapons can be transported by air by cargo aircraft after they are dismantled with the critical components shipped separately.

[WildBlue]

05:42 PM on 09/06/2007

Not true. Stop trying to be an expert on something you know little about.

[ViscountMontie]

09:37 PM on 09/05/2007

Couldn't those dicks detoured and dropped them on Cheney's pad?

[StoptheNazis]

06:12 PM on 09/05/2007

I was in the USAF ten years with my last 18 months at DaNang,

I saw so many lies that if put me off my former country for GOOD.

I escaped the USA in 1989. Best move I ever made.

BTW, I am decorated also but threw my ribbons out LONG AGO.

[GhostintheMachine]

07:22 PM on 09/05/2007

Hi Delores

[StoptheNazis]

05:48 AM on 09/06/2007

Maybe you are proud to be a war criminal but I am NOT. When you grow up perhaps you will find your humanity.

[TimN]

10:25 PM on 09/05/2007

If you threw your ribbons out you are not decorated.

[Atombstoner]

05:56 PM on 09/05/2007

As a former top-secret nuclear weapons specialist, deployed with the Neutron Bomb in 1968, I also "Blue Teamed" various Nuke installations. I, Frank Lavoie, say: We are being Seriously Lied to! No WAY can warheads be pulled from locked, guarded, 'secure' storage, inspected, made "live", armed or "safed",inspected again, programmed or target tailored, transported, mated with a delivery system, released from the bomb dump to the loading crew, onto an aircraft, onto a flightline, into the air, and across America without All the Checklists & Inspections complete- Everyone Involved Fully Aware. Warheads are NOT air transported, not even during evacuation of a base during hurricanes; warheads are not and Cannot be mated with a delivery system except in "live"/"safe" mode.
Many details of the story in Army Times & government statements are Dangerous Lies, {How MANY weapons, five or eight?}this is also the gravest reminder of what is at stake- All the Futures of All Mankind Forever! We may now Dare to Call the "Decider" and his loose cannons Traitors and Nuclear Blackmailers of Humanity, for they are "PLAYING" with Prometheus Fire and terrorizing everyone, Americans included, with the high likelihood of several BROKEN ARROWS...for these satanic devices kill without even "going off". Enjoy your radiation, yee who dare not Call It Treason!

[StoptheNazis]

06:10 PM on 09/05/2007

US Govt lie???? I am shocked.....

But remember the average US citizen is very gullible and BushCo knows that and banks on it.

Hasn't failed yet.

[getoffmedz]

09:08 PM on 09/05/2007

Like I commented earlier. Lots of cruise missiles being moved around real fast, right now.

Why is that?