A B-52 bomber from Minot Air Force Base was mistakenly loaded with nuclear warheads and flew several hours over the US last week.

The incident has caused the Air Force to order a stand down of Air Combat Command operations on September 14th, to review procedures related to the security and tracking of nuclear weapons.

It's also reportedly cost at least one Air Force officer to be fired.

It happened last Thursday, August 30th, when, somehow, as many as six nuclear warheads were loaded under the wings of a B-52 bomber at Minot Air Force Base. That bomber took off, headed for Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and flew about 3-and-a-half hours over the United States.

(Geoff Morrell, Pentagon Spokesman) "The Air Force is currently investigating an error made last Thursday in the transfer of munitions, as you mentioned, from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base."


A Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity says the squadron commander of the group in charge of the munitions was relieved of duty and is expected to lose his nuclear certification. Other reports say members of the ground crew that mistakenly loaded the nuclear weapons onto the bomber have been temporarily decertified for handling weapons. But at today's Pentagon press briefing, a spokesman would not confirm any personnel decisions.

(Geoff Morrell, Pentagon Spokesman) "I'm not aware of any discipline actions that have been taken. I am told however that the Air Force should complete a full report on this matter, including prospective corrective actions that need to take place. That should be complete by next week."


It's always been Air Force policy not to say if nuclear weapons were on board any B-52 flight, but it's logical to assume that nukes were routinely carried by the bombers during the cold war - because air-launched nuclear weapons are one leg of the three-legged nuclear deterrent air, sea, and land. So a nuclear weapon on board a B-52 is not exactly news. But the fact that the weapons were on the plane by accident and were unaccounted for in the Minot base's inventory for 3-and-a-half hours is. It was serious enough that top Air Force brass and even the Secretary of the Air Force and President were notified

(Geoff Morrell, Pentagon Spokesman) "It's clearly important enough that the secretary was informed of it and that he has requested daily briefings from General Mosely as to what they are doing to fix the problem and get to the bottom of the problem. I can also tell you it's important enough that President Bush was notified of it."


With the nuclear warheads on board a flight across America, was there risk of a detonation? A former Defense Department official quoted by the Air Force Times - which broke the story - says even if the plane had crashed, there would be no detonation. But he said there could have been a leak of nuclear material in a serious crash - that's what happened in a B-52 bomber crash in Italy in 1966. In addition, the expert said since the flight crew of the bomber didn't know it was carrying nuclear weapons, the plane would not have received the special treatment it should have in case of any problems on the flight.

The incident has caused Air Combat Command to order what's called a stand down next Friday, September 14th. The day will be devoted to reviewing procedures related to the handling of nuclear weapons. Jim Olson, KX News. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list