Mil News US B-52 'in nuclear cargo error'

[Drone_pilot]

A B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with up to
six nuclear-armed missiles, unnamed air force officials are quoted as saying.

The missiles were unaccounted for during a three-hour flight from a North
Dakota air base to one in Louisiana.

Air Force spokesman Lt-Col Ed Thomas told Army Times the weapons were
"always in our custody".

Army Times said the missiles were to be decommissioned but were mistakenly
mounted on the bomber's wings.

The W80-1 warhead has a yield of five to 150 kilotons, the paper said.

BBC Read More

My Comments: "Opps".
Code Bent Spear perhaps???

United States military nuclear incident terminology

 

[Advisor]

Operation: OSHITE ?camo;

 

[Bombardier]

Operation 'whatthefeckhappenedtherethen'

 

[Advisor]

Operation Flustercuck

 

[PanzerBob]

Shades of Major Kongsolaf

 

[03Fox2/1]

In reference to this story: As of today, posted by Associated Press, 10-20-2007.

Washington-- The Air Force said Friday it will punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found wide-spread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.

"There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base," said Maj. General Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.

Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the August 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.
The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.

A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The airmen replaced the schedule with their own "informal" system, he said, though he didn't say why they did that nor how long they had been doing it their own way.

"This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear diviation from our exacting standards," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said at a Pentagon news conference with Newton.
The weapon involved was the Advanced Cruise Missile, a "stealth" weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radar. Officials said after the breach the missiles were being flown to Barksdale for decommissioning.