B-52 carries nuclear warheads by mistake

[B-29 Super Fort]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six nuclear warheads on cruise missiles were mistakenly carried on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week, prompting a major investigation, military officials have confirmed.

The plane took the cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base for decommissioning Thursday, the Air Force said.

"This is a major gaffe, and it's going to cause some heads to roll down the line," said Don Shepperd, a retired Air Force major general and military analyst for CNN.

Shepperd said the United States had agreed in a Cold War-era treaty not to fly nuclear weapons. "It appears that what happened was this treaty agreement was violated," he said.

The warheads should have been removed from the missiles before they were attached to the B-52 bomber, according to military officials.

The crew was unaware that the plane was carrying nuclear weapons, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the extraordinary sensitivity and security surrounding the case.

The mistake was discovered after the plane's flight to Louisiana.

Minot Air Force Base is in north central North Dakota, and Barksdale Air Force Base is in northwest Louisiana near the Texas border.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell made clear that concerns about the "error" had escalated to the highest levels.

"Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates was quickly informed of this incident ... and he has been receiving daily briefings from Gen. Buzz Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, on actions that the Air Force is taking and the progress of their investigation," Morrell told reporters Wednesday.

"I can also tell you that it's important enough that President Bush was notified of it."

Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, head of the House Armed Services Committee, called the revelation "deeply disturbing." He said Wednesday that the committee will press the military to "strengthen controls" after the incident.

Military officials told CNN that the incident was a major breach of security rules surrounding nuclear weapons. One official said that he could not recall anything similar happening.

The Air Force announced that all flights of fighters and bombers in the United States will be halted on September 14 to allow for a review of procedures.

Once the mistake was discovered, the Air Force immediately began an inventory of all of its nuclear weapons, a military official said.

Maj. Gen. Douglas Raaberg, director of Air and Space Operations at the Air Combat Command in Langley, Virginia, has been ordered to investigate how the nuclear-tipped missiles were flown across the country without anyone knowing, officials said.

The squad commander responsible for the munitions has been relieved of duty, and several others have been "decertified" from handling nuclear weapons, officials said.

A military official told CNN there was no nuclear risk to public safety because the weapons were not armed. Officials believe that if the plane had crashed or the missiles somehow had fallen off the wings, the warheads would have remained inert and there would have been no nuclear detonation, though conventional explosive material in the warhead could have detonated.

Military officials also say the missiles could not have been launched because of multiple security procedures required to be enacted before any launch would have been authorized.

Shepperd agreed with military officials that the situation could not have caused a nuclear detonation.

But he added, "Any time you have nuclear material on board, if the airplane crashes, nuclear material can be spread in the immediate area of the crash, so you get radioactivity in the immediate area of the crash."

"This is serious business, but it was not dangerous business," Shepperd said.

[Jet Mech]

I have heard that the Wing Commander is now looking for a different job, maybe ditch digger or chow line steward....but he aint in command any longer.

[10tweaker]

"Military officials also say the missiles could not have been launched because of multiple security procedures required to be enacted before any launch would have been authorized. "


And we're supposed to have faith in THOSE security procedures, why? Wasn't the entire sequence of events a violation of standing procedures as they were? When I was around the "Special Weapons" progams in the service, we had "multiple security procedures" too--and it didn't involve flying around with UA nukes onboard. Who did the pre-flight? Doesn't the Crew Chief and/or PIC take a look at their payload list? I am extremely pro-military but stupid crap like this is what the anti-military folks love to see happen! Nice job, ya fum-duckers!

Jim

[tom d. friedman]

what if a "broken arrow" (nuke down status) had occurred?? it would be an entirely different can of worms. this mistake / breach of security does not instill much confidence!!

[B17news]

lol, won't be long before a few more "accidentally" fly over Iran, I guess.

[Jack Frost]

If I remember correctly, back in the 50's-70's Cold War days SAC bombers and some tactical fighter aircraft flew over the country on alert/training missions. In fact my KC-97 crew may have refueled a B-47 or two in-flight but we didn't have the need to know....so we didn't But times change.

I do know that every time a real Alert (Suez Canal, Cuban Missle crisis' to name a couple) was called, the B-47's were bombed up and the tail guns were pointing up in the loaded position and my neighbor, a B-47 Crew Chief said the bombs weren't concrete dummies used for training. If the alert was just to test reaction times of the flight and ground crews, such extersive loading wasn't done.

[sdennison]

Geez! My Pop was AC on B47's from Forbes in the late 50's and early 60's. Can you spell Cuban Missle Crisis? They flew live stuff all the time. We were told, get under your desk!

Come on folks, splain to me the process, even if a bird goes down, how do they poses a threat to the American populus.

I still sleep at night. They can fly over my house anytime. Ooops, short bus rider!

[10tweaker]

I guess the key difference with this incident is the fact that it was unintentional and, therefore, the crew likely had a different mindset as opposed to if they KNEW they had nukes onboard. It probably seems like semantics, but it was just a very serious breakdown in procedure and therein lay the main problem in my mind. Not so much that nukes were airborne--they and many others train for that--as did your dad, but with those weapons not being (at least in my mind) under proper control is a different story. I liken it to handgun control--when the weapon is under competent control--fine. When it is played with--well, thats different.

Jim

[warbirdcrew]

The real shame here is that lots of people are going to be fired/relieved of duty/transferred for this which may well turn out to be some small error in paperwork. Because of the "need to place blame mentality", people will lose their jobs; rather than having the opportunity to learn from the mistake. Perhaps I am just being idealistic, but I'm sure these people are very good at what they do and it seems a bit of a waste of talent to fire them all. Sure the results could have been disastrous, but they weren't. Just my two cents worth.

-wc

[Nathan]

I don't see why everyone is making such a big deal over this. So, a bomber flew with a nuke on board. Didn't bombers fly with them all the time during the cold war?

I think this is just to take a shot at the aviation world by the media.

[tom d. friedman]

the issue is that somebody grabbed the wrong stuff without without prior knowledge. nukes are stored under strict security, how was access to them allowed?? how did they make it out to the plane to be loaded?? nukes are not nondescript, they have warnings on them, handling info etc. if anybody takes the fall it should be the security section.

[GIJOE290]

the issue is that somebody grabbed the wrong stuff without without prior knowledge. nukes are stored under strict security, how was access to them allowed?? how did they make it out to the plane to be loaded?? nukes are not nondescript, they have warnings on them, handling info etc. if anybody takes the fall it should be the security section.

Precisely! This is the heart of the issue.

This wouldn't have happened under S.A.C. command & control policies & procedures.

[Dan Newcomb]

I don't see why everyone is making such a big deal over this. So, a bomber flew with a nuke on board. Didn't bombers fly with them all the time during the cold war?

I think this is just to take a shot at the aviation world by the media.

It’s the breach of security. Heads should roll.

[B-29 Super Fort]

Would the B-52 flight crew be advised that they are carrying nuclear warheads on their cruise missles as part of their mission plan?

[Nathan]

I don't see why everyone is making such a big deal over this. So, a bomber flew with a nuke on board. Didn't bombers fly with them all the time during the cold war?

I think this is just to take a shot at the aviation world by the media.

It’s the breach of security. Heads should roll.

Oh, ok...my bad.