Wait a minute, i could have SWORN there was 6 nukes sitting here just this morning. Huh, my bad!"

ScramDiggyBooBoo

Thanks much!

ps61318

pellier

MadCrazy

ceilingFANBOY

As far as the commenting and finding funny/relevant stuff to post with your comments, well that's up to the commenter.

I haven't been doing the You Tube stuff for very long actually.
Up till now I've been more of an old school puller out of references from various orifices.

It's a sickness actually.

strider_mt2k

Sorry, I'm old and many of these skills have passed me right by...

ps61318

I'll let them know.

R - read
T - the
F - fucking
A - article

dead_red_eyes

ceilingFANBOY

Bombear

ChaoticLimbs

ChaoticLimbs

aec007

mferrari

First..

Collins1

mikestan86

Klappstuhl

Ariel_Wollinger

ditto

Mrbungleface

minjae

It is, unfortunately, in my nature to try too hard. I tried to change that, but it was too hard.

ps61318

Argyle

newgalactic

Dark-Dx

Killjoy

This is not misinformation. This IS in the Pentagon report that has investigated the incident, as reported by Military.com.

RTFA.

Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz

Curves

avconsumer

@Arelar: You are nuked too.

[cache.gizmodo.com]

Jesus Diaz

Amiash Loves You

@ps61318: You're trying too hard, Sparky.

ceilingFANBOY

Scotland

speekals

Unless things have changed since I was a munitions grunt in the USAF, the munitions are "picked" and delivered by one group of people (used to be called 461's) and loaded on the plane by another group (462's). I never considered myself "ground crew" as a 461, but the 462's should have spotted the non-conventional munitions as well.

To gain access to and drive a nuclear bomb from storage to the flightline is a big deal. I had to go on a special program where my off-base alcohol consumption was monitored, my bank accounts were monitored, etc. Just getting the darned thing was many times more complicated. It simply isn't as lax as the article tries to make it sound. The only way I can imagine this sort of confusion happening is if there was some sort of unique circumstances where they couldn't store the munitions in separate areas.

shawn_dude

There's a LOT of misinformation going on here and I'm pretty amazed gizmophiles aren't aware of the basic functionality of a nuclear device.

I'm not aware of what type of munition the bomber was carrying, so I can only tell you what I know from my personal experience with bombs. I have never seen a cruise missile in person, and if these were of that sort my experience is of less value.

A nuclear bomb of the sort dropped by the USAF is different in appearance than a conventional bomb, like a Mk-82 or 84. The exterior casing is a totally different material, there's a unique shape to the nose (no threaded socket for a fuse for example) and there's a place where the arming code is manually entered. --none of this is secret stuff. I would be surprised if the warhead in a missile wasn't also different looking, but having never seen one of those I cannot tell you.

The warhead is a ball of shaped charges that has to go off in a very precise manner. If it doesn't, the radioactive contents get spewed forth and the explosion is just the sum of the charges. The radioactive material does not increase the yield of the explosion in this case. The overall explosion is far smaller than even a small conventional bomb of the sort dropped from planes. The worst case scenario is the charges do go off and scatter the radioactive material over the area. That is unlikely, but possible.

The military, wanting to see what would happen if a plane carrying a nuclear bomb was hit by an enemy missile, put a plane in a tiny valley in Nevada and blew it up. The bomb on board scattered plutonium over the valley. You can drive your car through that valley today (near the DOE test site) but the sides are fenced off with warning signs. If it weren't for that, you'd never know because of the plant and reptile life living there peacefully. (no mammals, though--so don't stop.)

The only catastrophe here is of the PR sort--and maybe the truth.

shawn_dude

+ Watch video

strider_mt2k

I'm just glad nothing happened, although the failsafes were in place (i.e., no accidental discharge w/out proper arming), but still...

BigDanInTX

Are we the best of a bad lot? Or maybe even not that?

Being the "most responsible nuclear power" is, perhaps, like being "the most kind of the minions of Hell."

ps61318

Barry99705

notatoad

The two bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were between 18-22 kilotons. Scaling that up the, presumably, cruise missiles (since actual nuclear bombs tend to look much different than conventional bombs, but the cruise missiles do look very similar especially if they're Tomahawks) had a yield of about 220 kilotons. While this is certainly enough to flatten Los Angeles, it's not nearly enough to take out the United States. The topography of the land, prevailing weather conditions, wind, and ambient heat play a large role in the total overall damage done by the warhead. Los Angeles is in a basin so the blast effects would bounce back creating even more damage. An open range like Kansas would fare better. Furthermore, Japan at that time was mostly wooden structures which were further ravaged by the firestorms and intense heat. In either case, it'd be a human tragedy the likes of which this world has never scene with at least 1,000,000 instant deaths and another 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 due to radiation, disease, and a swamping of the emergency/medical resources of the entire nation.

Citizen Kang

And the downside would be...?

timaeus

nutbastard

oh, oh yeah. nevermind.

Also:

"What do they call it when everything is going to shit around you and you decide to just settle in and have a good time until Major Kong gets here?"

I don't know what they call it, but I call it a good idea. I better stock up on marshmallows and beer.

nutbastard

(or my sarcasm emitter is malfunctioning)

In all seriousness though, it was probably some stupid distraction or an inattentive (or team of...) ordnance personnel. No matter what one does, it will get tedious and repetitive after a time. That they were allowed to become distracted/inattentive is the breakdown.

avconsumer

jkoppee

rainfever

@strider_mt2k: No, no, y'all have worked hard for the cache that comes with the Star, respec'!

And when I get home I'll watch the videos.

ps61318

"Somebody was probably just on their cellphone while loading bombs"... jeez I HOPE NOT! They tell you not to use your phone while pumping gas. For fucks sake!

redman042

Nukes are physically under the control of the Dept of Energy (a civilian entity) who parses them out to the military. Thats something that the Pentagon would really like to have.

DustyButt

atomthesunofgod

discounteggroll

avconsumer

GiltProto

jetexas

Sometimes you've got to wipe the slate clean and start over.

jetexas

Though I've had no first hand experience handling nuclear ordnance, I have to say there has to be SOME kind of visual differentiation between the multitude of different payloads. B-52's can carry (nuclear/nuclear capable) B-61, B-83 bombs; ALCM, ACM cruise missiles - of which all can deliver a vast variety of party favors. Just the B-83 alone has quite a few fuzing options that include free-fall air, ground burst, retarded air burst, retarded ground burst or delayed ground burst or "laydown." Oh, they're marked. Somebody was probably just on their cellphone while loading bombs.

Anyway, these weapons are designed and tested to be USABLE (read: not blow up, and still work even) after hard target penetration (read: in a hardened bunker that has been successfully bombed to rubble). There was no real danger.

avconsumer

jkoppee

redman042

jetexas

@jetaxas: of you've got the money to just fly a B-52 into the base then you probably already have the money to buy a nuke.

jkoppee

but if they had dropped this over iraq and thought it was just a DUD, and then some terrorists got a hold of it and walla they have weapons grade plutonium.

@jetexas: LMAO i thought that too... HAHAH in plain site ya go figure :)

you'd think they'd be in bright red flashing boxes or something, or in something that would differentiate them besides PAPER!

phantam

zenpoet

strider_mt2k

We'll keep switching it every six months until everyone sees the star system for what it is: mere Granfaloonery

@ps61318: Dude.
Welcome.
Hang out. Read. Post. Enjoy.

Everybody is a star.

+ Watch video

strider_mt2k

jetexas

**PERK** I also see a marketing opportunity...

YOU TOO can be see with a star! Rent Nutbastard by the hour (with a small fee to me, his pimp, er um, agent).

Curves

Maybe the government was trying one of those "hide-em-in-plain-sight" tactics, and it just worked too well.

jetexas

yehoni

I never asked for a star. I never even thought to ask how to GET a star. I picture some arcane ritual, the Giz editors enrobed in microfiber, sitting around an OLED simulation of a fire, sacrificing chickens and scattering their (the chickens') entrails about, waiting for the right pattern of innards and gizzards to lead them to the commenter who is most deserving.

Or it could be a quality thing.

Either way - props to the bearers of the stars, and as for the rest of us, I know not what course others may take, but I don't got to have no stinkin' star.

ps61318

Sora57

Jesus Diaz

ps61318

Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz

One sheet of paper protecting the world? I can see it now! Headlines that read "Super-Sheet-of-Paper Saves the world again!" It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's just a piece of paper! NO IT'S SUPER-SHEET-OF-PAPER!! DUH DUH DA DUH!!! he can have a nifty suit (printing?) and everything! a super secret cave with automatic dressing(printer?) His nemesis? Shredder!! like TMNT but different.

and that's my retarded rant for today

detach

I think I'm heading there. Maybe not now...but soon.

strider_mt2k

sumocat

I mean come on, the planes of every commercial airline can be differentiated at 100's of feet...how hard can this be?

Ken

gavscott

+ Watch video

strider_mt2k

The air force purchased the land and checks it regularly for contamination. None has been found yet.

NutManIV

werk

combat chuck

Geisrud

That would just tell the ninjas which one's to steal.

BasicBlack

No, it would not have destroyed the entire country. Not even close.

And nuclear bombs beneath your house from the Cold War? Are you kidding me? What good would that even do? What sort of strategy is that to combat the Russian communists? "We'll defeat them by placing nukes beneath our population's cities." That makes sense?

Doc_KimChi

mjgolli

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

And we rag on the Russians when they cant keep track of their nukes... we seem to be just as fucking bad, and in our case (unlike the Russians who nukes have a 1/4th chance of actually detonating even if right procedures are followed) ours would probably detonate if the right procedures where figured out.

Falconfire

Jesus Diaz

NutManIV

dirk1965

skittlzncombos

@IphtashuFitz: Since the nuke part of the bomb wouldn't have been armed, if they didn't know they were launching a nuke, they would not have accidentally blown up Baghdad. They wouldn't even have blown up the bridge. What they would have done is possibly given someone, willing to salvage it, a free nuclear warhead. If they realized their mistake too late.

smcallah

TedB.

skittlzncombos

The issue is not so much that there was any danger of them accidentally nuking part of the US - nukes just don't work like that, even if you crash catastrophically. At worst, you might spread a bit of nuclear material around, but probably not even that much.

The real issues are that:
1. Some nukes went missing for a while, and we should know where all of them are at all times.
2. By treaty, we are prohibited from "just moving them".

But I also agree with the other posters - where have you been for the past six months, Jesus?

Erwos

Come to think of it... maybe slapping stuff on a nuke is a bad idea, maybe just gently affix it to the side.

LankySean

I can suggest a few printers they should use in the future ;)

Riva

Nice to know that all that stands between us and nuclear annihilation is a single sheet of paper.

Seriously though. How on earth can they justify having nuclear and conventional munitions look identical and the only way to tell them apart be a piece of paper? Imagine if this had happened at Whitman Air Force Base in MO back when the B-2 bombers stationed there were dropping bombs on Iraq. Instead of a conventional 2000 pound bomb destroying a bridge across the Euphrates river in Baghdad they would have destroyed the entire city.

IphtashuFitz

snathanb

and oh yeah: IM FIRST!!!

Arelar