B-52 carried nuclear missiles over US by mistake

[MTK]

A little mistake

AFP: B-52 carried nuclear missiles over US by mistake: military

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US military said on Wednesday it was investigating an alarming security lapse when a B-52 bomber flew the length of the country last week loaded with six nuclear-armed cruise missiles.

[gibbsisgod]

Is it just me or is this information that should have been kept "top secret"? Do we really want our enemies to know we are that absent minded?

[MTK]

Originally Posted by gibbsisgod

Is it just me or is this information that should have been kept "top secret"? Do we really want our enemies to know we are that absent minded?

I think they're already well aware of it.

[gibbsisgod]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think they're already well aware of it.

haha touche!

[dmek25]

I'm trying to figure out how Bill Clinton keeps screwing things up? you guys are right, this was definitely need to know info. and the public probably didn't need to know this

[RobH4413]

See, this kind of shit worries the hell out of me.

How are we just losing track of nuclear missles?!?! Not good! Not good at all.

[saden1]

Wait a minute, so if flying them over the U.S. is not allowed how do they get them from point A to point B? Transport them by ground? Fly them over Mexico and Canada?

Danger will always be present when it comes to transporting nuclear weapons.

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by saden1

Wait a minute, so if flying them over the U.S. is not allowed how do they get them from point A to point B? Transport them by ground? Fly them over Mexico and Canada?

Danger will always be present when it comes to transporting nuclear weapons.

I think the issue here, is that the bombs had warheads on them. They put the bombs on the aircraft, but they forgot to remove the warheads. I'm not sure, but I suppose they do transport warheads by air -- just not attached to bombs that are mounted on the aircraft.

[Hijinx]

Most people would be very surprised to find out how many nuclear weapon related accidents there have been, including a few "Empty Quiver" events. A few of the bombs have never been recovered. The most famous of these is the Tybee bomb. In the late 50's an air collision lead to a bomb being lost into a swampy area near Savannah, GA. The army couldn't find it so it is still there somewhere. There were also 3 bombs lost in North Carolina near Greensboro. Pieces of the bombs where never found and fell into the underground water table. The army bought the land so no one could get to the pieces but they are still thought to be down there in the water.

Here is some interesting reading along these lines.....List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Tybee Bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BleedBurgundy]

We didn't lose track of them, we just failed to live up to a cold war agreement not to fly them.

[Riggo44]

Some heads really need to roll for this one. That’s just asinine!

[That Guy]

no one lost track of them, but ammo or whatnot forgot to unload them.

no danger of going off, but in the 80s, the US had nukes flying all over the place, ready to drop, and we had a few accidents (spanish coast, iceland), so we agreed to stop doing that (to meet the quota of bombs in the sky back then, some of those b-52s may have been going up without being in 100% working order).

[BDBohnzie]

Does this mean someone gets to wear the "I'm With Stupid" t-shirt over their uniform next week?

[firstdown]

Its funny how everytime the US goverment makes a mistake people just say that the way things go in goverment but then the next day the same people are calling for the goverment to run the nations health care. This has nothing to do with which party is in controll because they both make tons of mistakes and seem to screw up most of the stuff they become involved in.

[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Its funny how everytime the US goverment makes a mistake people just say that the way things go in goverment but then the next day the same people are calling for the goverment to run the nations health care. This has nothing to do with which party is in controll because they both make tons of mistakes and seem to screw up most of the stuff they become involved in.

Everyone has mental lapses. It's just that when you're job is to deal with NUCLEAR (or NUKULER) missiles on a daily basis, even the smallest lapse is a big deal. The only thing I don't like about the system is that it's generalized as "The US Gov't dicked this up." It should be General Smith, Colonel Johnson and Sgt Jackson dicked this up and they have all been reduced in rank... I don't understand why private citizens are responsible for their own actions but service members get to hide behind the red, white and blue shield. A little personal accountability would go a long way to fixing some of our problems.