Lost ballistic fuses spark investigations

[unhappycamper]

Four non-nuclear nose cone assemblies, like the one shown, and their associated electrical components for a ballistic missile were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in the fall of 2006.


Lost ballistic fuses spark investigations
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 29, 2008 7:09:11 EDT

Secret fuses designed to trigger nuclear ballistic missiles were sent to Taiwan, where they spent more than 18 months unaccounted for under foreign control before U.S. officials found out March 20 what had been lost.

The gravity of the error was so great, President Bush had to admit the mistake to the Chinese government.

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne announced at a March 25 news conference that in August 2006, the Defense Department mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four fuses designed to trigger Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, rather than batteries for Taiwanese UH-1 Huey helicopters the U.S. had intended to send.

Once the mistake was revealed, Defense Secretary Robert Gates immediately launched an investigation — led by a Navy admiral instead of an Air Force general — that comes just eight months after he ordered a similarly embarrassing investigation of an incident in which airmen accidentally ferried six nuclear warheads across the country on a B-52 Stratofortress.

Gates also ordered a Defense Department-wide inventory of nuclear weapons and related materials, telling the Air Force, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency to assess inventory control procedures for the materials and to submit a report within 60 days.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/03/airforce_loose_fuses_032808w/