Nuclear weapons flight was mistake, admits US

Nuclear-armed missiles were flown across the US by mistake, military chiefs admitted for the first time.

The US Air Force said the episode in late August was an “unacceptable mistake” of a sort that had never happened before.

“We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again,” Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said.

He spoke at a Pentagon news conference after US defence secretary Robert Gates was briefed on the results of the air force’s investigation into the August 29-30 incident, one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons-handling procedures in decades.

Appearing with Wynne was Major General Richard Newton, the air force deputy chief of staff for operations, who attributed the episode to an “unprecedented string of procedural errors”.

He said the incident began with a failure by airmen to conduct an inspection of the missiles before they were loaded onto the B-52 bomber that flew from Minot Air Force Base, near the Canadian border, across several states to Barksdale Air Force Base in the southern state of Louisiana.

“This was a failure to follow procedures, procedures that have proven to be sound,” Newton said.

A six-week investigation found fault with several officers, who have been relieved of duty, Newton said.

He said the 5th Bomb Group commander at Minot was relieved of command, among others. Newton cited none by name.

Newton said the 5th Bomb Wing, which operates B-52s has been “decertified from its wartime mission.”

He added that the problem was isolated but resulted from problems at both air bases.

“There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base,” Newton said.

After arriving at Barksdale, the B-52 sat on a runway for hours with the missiles before the breach was known; 36 hours passed before the missiles were properly secured, officials have said.

The incident was so serious that it required that President George Bush and Gates be quickly informed.

Wynne prefaced his remarks about the B-52 incident by saying that in publicly confirming that nuclear weapons were involved he had authorised a one-time exception to US policy, which states that the location of nuclear weapons will never be confirmed.

He said he made this exception because of the seriousness of the episode and its importance to the nation.