Air Force missile launch crew fell asleep

[Neo]

Air Force missile launch crew fell asleep​

Friday 25th July, 2008

WASHINGTON - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.

The probe found that the missile launch codes were outdated and remained secure at all times. But the July 12 incident comes on the heels of a series of missteps by the Air Force that had already put the service under intense scrutiny.

"This was just a procedural violation that we investigated," said Air Force Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. "We determined that there was no compromise."

The lapse, which involved a crew based at Minot Air Force Base, was serious enough, however, to prompt an investigation by the 91st Missile Wing, in conjunction with codes experts at the 20th Air Force, U.S. Strategic Command and the National Security Agency.

And it delivers another blow to the beleaguered Air Force.

Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced a sweeping shake-up of the Air Force leadership, blaming them for failing to fully address a series of nuclear-related mishaps.

At the time, Gates said his decisions to sack the Air Force secretary and chief of staff were based mainly on the blistering conclusions of an internal report on the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four Air Force fusing devices for ballistic missile nuclear warheads.

He also linked the underlying causes of that slip-up to the August incident in which a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

No one has been punished yet in the latest Minot incident involving sleeping crew members. A continuing review by Minot commanders will determine what, if any, actions will be taken against them.

Ford and other Air Force officials said the Minot-based crew had code devices that were no longer usable, since new codes had been installed in the missiles.

The three crew members, who are in the 91st Missile Wing, were in the missile alert facility about 70 miles from Minot. That facility includes crew rest areas and sits above the underground control center where the actual keys can be turned to launch the ballistic missiles.

Officials said the three officers were behind locked doors and had with them the old code components, which are large classified devices that allow the crew to communicate with the missiles. Launch codes are part of the component, and the devices were described as large, metal boxes.

Ford said they were waiting to get back to base "and they fell asleep."

It is not clear how long they were asleep.

There are periodic, regularly scheduled code changes, and there was a crew of four on duty. One of the crew members was not in the room with the other three at the time they fell asleep, the Air Force said.

The investigation concluded that the codes had remained secured in their containers, which have combination locks that can only be opened by the crew. The containers remained with the crew at all time, and the facility is guarded by armed security forces.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the series of nuclear missteps involving Minot Air Force Base disappointing and unfortunate.

"This appears to me to be an incident in which codes were not compromised but some rules were broken, and those broken rules were reported," Dorgan said. "This does not appear to me to be equal to flying an airplane loaded with nuclear weapons halfway across the county — that was extraordinarily serious.

"I don't think this is an issue about the base — I think it's an issue about personnel," Dorgan said. "There have obviously been management and command problems at this base and the Air Force has made some command changes to respond to it."

Col. Bruce Emig was ousted following the August flight of the B-52 bomber.

"The violation was reported and it required reporting, and the airmen did their duty to report it," Dorgan said, referring to the latest incident.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, who spoke with Air Force officials Thursday about the matter, said the Minot base is getting extra scrutiny because of its embarrassing mistakes.

"They told me procedural violations do occur periodically," he said.

But Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the incident very troubling. "The new Air Force leadership, when confirmed, must take decisive and urgent steps to restore the culture of respect that our strategic weapons deserve and our national security demands," said Skelton.

Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, has been nominated to be the next Air Force chief of staff, and Michael Donley, for secretary. During their Senate confirmation hearing this week both men vowed to work to restore trust and confidence in the service.

The 91st missile wing has control of several facilities, including 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Air Force missile launch crew fell asleep - Yahoo! News

 

[Xeric]

No doubt they are getting a guud beating from the talibans....

 

[batmannow]

US army, and its other armed forces getting tired of being over used & over streched. . before this, it was B-52 accident.... six of the crew died, before that NUKE fuses were sent to TAIWAN, wrongly.... i guss, it is a time to real overhaulling of the FORCES & and its chain of COMMAND for USA??? instead of being a BULLY to ISI

Air Force Says No Survivors in B-52 Crash

July 23, 2008
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Washington - The US military has concluded the remaining crew members of a B-52 bomber that crashed earlier this week off the coast of Guam are dead, the Air Force said Wednesday.

The B-52 crashed about 40 kilometres off Guam's northwest coast on Monday while it was preparing to participate in a ceremony recognizing the island's liberation. The cause of the crash has not been determined.

The bodies of two of the six crew were found on Monday and the other four remained missing.
"Officials here have determined that none of the six crew members survived the B-52 crash Monday off Guams northwest coast," The Air Force said. "Search and rescue teams have now shifted their focus from rescue operations to recovery of the aircrew."

The B-52, based out of Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was not carrying weapons. B-52s have been in service since 1955.

The accident is the second for the US Air Force this year on Guam. In February, a B-2 crashed at Andersen Air Force Base in the first- ever loss of a stealth bomber. The military estimated the loss of the aircraft at 1.4 billion dollars.
© Copyright 2008 Deutsche Presse-Agentur. All rights reserved.

Gates Orders Inventory of US Nukes March 28, 2008
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a full inventory of all nuclear weapons and related materials after the mistaken delivery of ballistic missile fuses to Taiwan, the Pentagon said March 27.

Gates told officials with the Air Force, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency to assess inventory control procedures for the materials and to submit a report within 60 days.

Earlier this week, Gates directed Navy Adm. Kirkland H. Donald to take charge of a full investigation of the delivery mistake in which four cone-shaped electrical fuses used in intercontinental ballistic missile warheads were shipped to the Taiwanese instead of the helicopter batteries they had ordered.
It was the second nuclear-related mistake involving the military that has been revealed in recent months. In August an Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. At the time, the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.
The electrical fuses were delivered in fall 2006, but the military did not fully realize the gravity of the blunder until last week. The revelation sparked sharp protests from China and forced President Bush to acknowledge the error in a phone call Wednesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

While the shipment did not contain nuclear materials, the error is particularly sensitive because China vehemently opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. U.S. officials were quick to say that the incident did not suggest any change in policies toward Taiwan arms sales.

But China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, in a statement posted on the agency's Web site, that China had sent a protest to Washington expressing "strong displeasure."

He said China demanded the U.S. investigate the matter and report back to China to "eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created by this incident."

Despite quarterly checks of the inventory, defense officials said they never knew the fuses were gone. Only after months of discussions with Taiwan over the missing batteries did the Pentagon finally realize - late last week - the seriousness of what had happened.

During that time, according to a senior Taiwan defense official, the U.S. initially asked Taiwan to dispose of the missile fuses. U.S. officials said that early on it was thought the Taiwanese had simply received the wrong batteries.

Once the error was discovered, the military quickly recovered the four fuses, which are linked to the triggering mechanisms in Minuteman nuclear missile nose cones. But Gates has demanded sweeping reviews to discover how it happened and whether it indicates a broader problem in the security of the military's nuclear weapons and related materials.

In his memo released Thursday, Gates ordered a physical inventory of all nuclear related items. Donald, whose assessment is separate from the agencies' inventories, must provide Gates with an initial report by April 15.


© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.