Bent Spear Investigation Results

The Air Force didn't shine during their press conference they held concerning their investigation into the snafu with the six nuclear warheads. Major General Newton, the operations chief for Air Combat Command, identified five procedural errors that caused airmen to lose accountability of the weapons. They wound up on a B-52 flown from Minot AFB, in North Dakota, to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.

General Newton called this an "isolated incident" but later mentioned there "has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and at Barksdale Air Force Base". Not generally known is that these bases are the only two main operating bases for B-52s. "Isolated" seems to cover the whole operational fleet. Indeed Commanders from both bases were fired. This would include the chain of command at Minot from the munitions commander to his wing commander two levels higher, and the hapless operations commander at Barksdale who had charge of the B-52 navigator who only checked half the pylons on his plane. Some times in the Air Force bad stuff rolls uphill.

While commanders were relieved, things will be worse for the airmen who actually committed the five errors. I expect some will face a court martial for violating procedures. These aren't suggestions; each procedure is documented in a book called a "Technical Order" - literally meaning an "order" from the Air Force Chief of Staff.

The Q&A period at the end of the briefing shows the AF still isn't media savvy. A lot of questions about storage procedures were met with the stock answer "The weapons were stored in the facilities per DOD guidelines and Air Force guidelines as well". I know this is due to operational security, but a little explanation of that fact would help reporters understand the situation. Instead, the General comes accross like he is stone-walling.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Oct 25, 2007