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Be Very Afraid

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:00:54 PM EST
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The Bush administration would like you to live in fear of terrorism. Shouldn't you be more fearful of this story?

Three senior officers have been relieved of command for their roles in mistakenly allowing a B-52 bomber to fly from North Dakota to Louisiana carrying armed nuclear warheads, top Air Force officials said. .. The bomber took off from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on Aug. 30 with the nuclear-armed cruise missiles under one wing. The mistake wasn't discovered until after the plane landed later that day at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

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    Be Very Afraid | 5 comments (5 topical)

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    Misinformation (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by NMvoiceofreason on Sun Oct 21, 2007 at 12:43:36 AM EST
    There is a great deal of un-necessary panic out there. I worked at Sandia National Laboratories, the Nation's Nuclear Engineers, so let me be perfectly clear about it: at no time were we in any danger of these nuclear weapons going off.

    In the 1960's, a series of accidents involving craft carrying nukes led to the development of Permissive Action Links. These coded links are installed in every nuclear weapon. You can burn the weapon, smash them, do just about anything you want to them, and they will not go off. Only if the PALs are enabled - which can only be done by the correct coded sequence - can the weapon detonate.

    Air Force routinely refers to a cruise missile with a warhead attached as "armed". It may not be "fused" or "activated" - i.e. it is not a "live" round, but the weapon is considered to be prepared for use.

    http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/LN01-11-02/labnews01-11-02.pdf

    Heh... (none / 0) (#6)
    by desertswine on Sun Oct 21, 2007 at 01:50:55 AM EST
    So where's our solar powered TV sets?

    Parent
    frankly, that doesn't sound right (none / 0) (#2)
    by cpinva on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 11:19:49 PM EST
    the bombs may have been nuclear tipped, but i doubt they were "armed", since that isn't normally done until just before they're released. if they were armed, the crew would have to have been totally oblivious, to all the warning lights going red on the plane's control panel/computers. i sort of doubt they'd all have missed that.

    i could be wrong, but i don't think they can even be armed on the ground. again, for safety's sake, it's done by the crew while in flight.

    they don't arm them, until just before release, so that they don't accidentally go off in mid-flight, or in case of a crash. talk about ruining your weekend.

    i have a friend in beautiful, downtown minot. needless to say, she was less than thrilled, when she heard about this.

    WSWS questions "mistake" (none / 0) (#3)
    by Andreas on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 01:05:46 AM EST
    Media, politicians maintain silence on flight of US nuclear bomber
    By Bill Van Auken, 14 September 2007

    Why was a nuclear-armed bomber allowed to fly over the US?
    By Bill Van Auken, 7 September 2007

    The biggest threat to our security.... (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 09:26:19 AM EST
    is our government.  No doubt about it.

    Be Very Afraid | 5 comments (5 topical)

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