I agree with you. I was wondering why the "noise" about this now?
I have been by several Air Force bases (including Plattsburg during the real cold war), sub bases and lived in NYC when there were live Nike missiles based near by.

As pointed out, "we" generally do not say much about nukes. So why now?

No crap~!

When I saw that on cnn.com I was :eek:

Gee,

Consider me amazed!

I would have guessed that nuclear armed aircraft overflew the US pretty much all the time.

Unless they're intentionally armed, nukes are pretty safe -- even if the vehicle carrying them crashes.

I don't consider this a problem.

Does that make me a hawk?

Not at all - it makes you informed. Really, it's kind of sad that at this point you're either a reactionary or a "hawk", you know?

Nuclear weapons don't work like eggs - if you drop them, they don't just break. The electronic components are actually quite complicated, and (generally) require a detonation system (beyond just "hitting the ground" - most explode before the ground, to increase damage).

So yeah - these things fly all the time, just because "someone didn't know" there likely wasn't any danger, and all that stuff beyond the sketchy circumstances behind this being news-worthy.

A B-52 crashed several years ago off of Spain. While it took awhile to find them, all 5(?) bombs were found intact.

IIRC several other events as well.

What worries me more than an aircraft was carrying nuclear arms is that it was a B-52. Those things were built in the 1950's. I'd be more worried about one of them falling on my head than nukes.

I'm really kidding (sort of), but during the Cold War a percentage (a third?) of all of the US Air Force's nuclear armed B-52's were always in the air to provide faster response to potential nuclear attacks from the former Soviet Union.

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an accidental US nuclear explosion due to an aircraft crash (or any other reason) anywhere in the world.

We're pretty careful with the things. And we're also careful with the B-52 fleet despite my making fun of them above. They've been constantly updated and carefully maintained.

NO BLOOD FOR OIL.

It is officially the policy of the U.S. military to never to confirm or deny the possession of nuclear weapons.

Arming a nuke is much more involved than pressing the mythical red button in the Oval Office. Anywhere there's anything involving nuclear command and control requires a minimum two-person concept to authenticate, arm and deploy nukes. It's virtually impossible for one person to arm or launch a nuke. (And that's ALL I'm gonna say about it within the confines of operational security.)

However, there's probably gonna be several people up the chain of command that are gonna get the sun-dried corncob up the ass sideways, and it's probably already happened.

B-52: Someone over 50 you can trust! :D

Airborne alert was common in the 1960s but was discontinued after the Palomares (Spain) incident in 1965. There were other reasons as well. From 1965 until the alert force stood down in 1991, the bombers were kept 'cocked and locked' at the alert facility.

This is all Israel's fault.

Free Palestine.

i know they have to get where they are getting somehow...but i still think in todays society (post-9/11, the war in Iraq) a closer eye should be kept on things, you know? kind of like when that disease got lost a while back, was it ebola? i dont remember, but with things that serious, mistakes/misplacings cant be done like that!

Sounds like a Tom Clancey book.

It's tough to misplace a nuclear bomb.

Not impossible, I suppose.

Anyway, I'd rather have them on a plane than a train passing through town -- even though they are nearly impossible to detonate accidentally.

Why should things be looked at closer "in today's society"? What does this have to do with 9/11 or the war in Iraq? Don't you always speak out against Iraq, and aren't you trying to have/eat here?

Also aren't you referring to the movie Outbreak?

-RC
--I'm kidding, you're thinking of the CDC though, and there was no danger, so chilllllllllllllllll

i remember that movie. there were what, 16 people left on earth at the end lol!

chalk it up to paranoia. you are right, that type of mistake is just as bad twenty years ago as it was last week. maybe its the constant report of terrorist cells here, there, everywhere! someone, somewhere, is always plotting to blow up/destroy/crash something. now theyve publicized a big US "oops!" and that just makes me a bit weary about any group who is looking for that next best way to teach us a lesson!

ps geez, i didnt know anyone paid attention to my Iraqi rants! :D

There's a terrorist behind every Bush.

Wait, that should be bush with a small "b" I think.

Just a little joke.