Washington - Several US Air Force officers have been stripped of their command because of major lapses in procedures that led to the accidental transport of nuclear weapons on a flight across the United States, a US general said Friday. Major General Richard Newton said some of the officers could face a court-martial for failing to follow procedures that led to the loading of six nuclear warheads to the B-52 before its August flight. Newton did not identify the officers.
The B-52 was supposed to be carrying 12 conventional bombs from Minot Air Force Base in Montana to a Barksdale, Louisiana base 1,200 kilometres away for destruction.
But multiple failures in following procedures caused a weapons crew to load one wing with nuclear weapons the day before its August 30 departure. After the B-52 then sat on the runway overnight, the flight crew broke the rules by inspecting only the weapons under one wing - the wing with the conventional arms - before taking off, Newton said.
After landing at the Barksdale base, the B-52 sat for more than seven hours before anyone noticed it was carrying nuclear weapons.
"This was a failure to follow procedures, procedures which have proven to be sound," Newton said. "It involved a limited number of airmen at two bases."
The discovery of the weapons triggered an emergency report up the chain-of-command that quickly landed on US President George W Bush's desk. The Pentagon is continuing an investigation into how so many safeguards for the handling of nuclear weapons could have failed to catch the error.
"This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear deviation from our exacting standards," Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne said. "We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken."
Wynne said the Air Force has a policy of never discussing anything involving the use of nuclear weapons, but because of the seriousness of the mistake, he was making "a one-time exception."
"We would not be this upset with ourselves, nor be striving to restore confidence, if this did not involve nuclear weapons," he said.
