USAF B-52 flew with five nuclear warheads 'by mistake'

Published on Thursday 6 September 2007 00:54

A UNITED States Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads during a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana, it emerged yesterday.

The bomber carried advanced cruise missiles as part of a Defence Department programme to retire 400 of the missiles, the Military Times said, quoting three officers who spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to discuss the incident.

They said the nuclear warheads should have been removed before the missiles were mounted on to pylons under the bomber's wings for the 30 August flight from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, the newspaper said on Wednesday.

In addition to the munitions squadron commander who was relieved of his duties, crews involved with the mistaken load - including groundcrew - have been temporarily suspended from handling munitions, one official said.

The Air Combat Command ordered a halt in all operations until 14 September to review procedures, officials said.

An air force spokesman, Lt-Col Ed Thomas, told the Military Times the weapons were in air force control at all times and the missiles were safely transferred.

Air force policy does not permit officials to say whether nuclear warheads were involved, Lt-Col Thomas said. However, he added all nuclear weapons at Minot were accounted for.

"Air force standards are very exacting when it comes to munitions handling," he said. "The weapons were always in our custody and there was never a danger to the American public."