September 06, 2007
Nuclear Warheads Flown Cross-Country... By Mistake
The Air Force accidentally flew half a dozen armed nuclear warheads across the length of the United States -- from the Minot Air Base in North Dakota to the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana -- last week on a B-52 Stratofortress bomber.
Military Times broke the story, reporting that inside sources said "the original plan was to transport non-nuclear Advanced Cruise Missiles, mounted on the wings of a B-52, to Barksdale as part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. It was not discovered that the six missiles had nuclear warheads until the plane landed at Barksdale, leaving the warheads unaccounted for during the approximately 3 1/2 hour flight between the two bases."
Military officials wouldn't confirm the story, Military Times reports, but they did say the Air Force was "investigating an error made last Thursday during the transfer of munitions" from one base to the other.
The Air Force is doling out disciplinary rebukes over the mistake; most recently, the commander in charge of munitions at the Minot base was relieved of his duties pending investigation. See the full story for more.
