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US lost communication with 50 nuclear missiles: Report

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  • US lost communication with 50 nuclear missiles: Report

    NEW YORK: The US had lost communication with nearly 50 intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, one-ninth of its arsenal for 45 minutes over the weekend, even as defence officials said that there were no chance of an accidental launch or foul play, a media report said today.

    A defence official said that power failure led to a loss of communication between a control centre and the missiles at F E Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that President Barack Obama had been briefed on the issue.

    "There was no threat to the public," said the defence official.

    "The missiles were protected by multiple, redundant safety security and control features," said another military official. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, notified Defence Secretary Robert Gates of the incident.

    The cause of power failure is being investigated but it does not appear to be malicious, according to officials.

    There was no evidence of foul play, and the Air Force never lost the ability to launch the missiles, officials said.

    The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles are part of the 319th Missile Squadron stockpiled at Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming, where 150 ICBMs are located.

    The failure affected 50 of them, or one-ninth of the US arsenal. ICBMs at Air Force bases in Montana and North Dakota were not affected.

    The newspaper pointed out that in 2008, a series of problems with nuclear weapons and parts, including the accidental transport of a weapon across the US, led Defence Secretary Gates to fire the Air Force secretary and chief of staff.

    Read more: US lost communication with 50 nuclear missiles: Report - The Times of India US lost communication with 50 nuclear missiles: Report - The Times of India

  • #2
    If you were to look at the overall picture, 1/9 of the armament means almost nothing considering the amount the US has in the inverntory. Many countries wouldnt even survive the 50 that comms were lost with briefly.
    Last edited by Dreadnought; 27 Oct 10,, 19:55.
    Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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    • #3
      I agree on the overall big picture impact of the problem. But I wouldn't like to be the guy in charge of those birds (make a smoking frying pan look good) ... backup power cutover on ICBM's should have covered this outage in seconds, thats what the phone company expects for its switching centers - if it is true that it took 45 min, something is terribly wrong. For ICBM's I would expect a hot power backup running in parallel with switch time measured in milliseconds.
      sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
      If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Dreadnought View Post
        If you were to look at the overall picture, 1/9 of the armament means almost nothing considering the amount the US has in the inverntory. Many countries wouldnt even survive the 50 that comms were lost with briefly.
        Yeah, but its that phrase "lost communications" that is ominous. In which case if even one were to "lose communication" alarm bells would go off (or not in this case )

        CO: routine check all the birds are in place ?
        OO: hang on a minute i had them there a minute go but hmm..let me get back to you on that one.

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        • #5
          In a cold war scenario, those birds would have been destroyed by SLBM's in a fraction of the 45 minutes they were allegedly unavailable

          Another and perhaps larger concern is why should we know about this?
          I don't beleive the vulnerabilities of our strategic deterent should be a part of public information

          I would consider this degree of neglegence to be very much "foul play"
          Last edited by USSWisconsin; 27 Oct 10,, 20:23.
          sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
          If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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          • #6
            Originally posted by USSWisconsin View Post
            Another and perhaps larger concern is why should we know about this?
            That one line sums up the difference between your country and the rest. I'm conflicted whether that is in itself a good or a bad thing, but for now am leaning towards the former. If everybody knows there is no cover up and this sort of thing gets fixed and heads roll.

            Never happens anywhere else because nobody would ever find out, nothing changes ;)

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
              That one line sums up the difference between your country and the rest. I'm conflicted whether that is in itself a good or a bad thing, but for now am leaning towards the former. If everybody knows there is no cover up and this sort of thing gets fixed and heads roll.

              Never happens anywhere else because nobody would ever find out, nothing changes ;)
              IMO it should have been reported all the way up the CoC to the POTUS, but not to the public
              sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
              If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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