Nuclear Missile Equipment Failure Disrupts 50 ICBMs

[unhappycamper]

FILE - This May 13, 2005, file photo, shows three types of missiles that flank the main gate of F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. An equipment failure disrupted communication between 50 nuclear missiles and the launch control center at the base on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, an Air Force spokesman said Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010.


Nuclear Missile Equipment Failure Disrupts 50 ICBMs
ANNE GEARAN and MICHELE SALCEDO | 10/26/10 11:06 PM | AP

WASHINGTON — An equipment failure disrupted communication between 50 nuclear missiles and the launch control center at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming over the weekend, an Air Force spokesman said Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Todd Vician said the break occurred early Saturday and lasted less than one hour. The White House was briefed about the failure Tuesday morning.

There was no evidence of foul play, and the Air Force never lost the ability to launch the missiles, officials said.

The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles are part of the 319th Missile Squadron stockpiled at Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, where 150 ICBMs are located. The failure affected 50 of them, or one-ninth of the U.S. arsenal. ICBMs at Air Force bases in Montana and North Dakota were not affected.

The equipment failure disrupted "communication between the control center and the missiles, but during that time they were still able to monitor the security of the affected missiles," Vician said. "The missiles were always protected. We have multiple redundancies and security features, and control features."

[ET Awful]

1. It's so reassuring that they "never lost the ability to launch the missiles"

After all, if we'd lost 1/100th of our ability to annihilate all life on the planet for under an hour, we'd have been in real trouble.

[HopeHoops]

2. Well, it is nice to know that a major portion of Earth would have been spared multiple destructions.

It has been known for at least 40 years that we wouldn't even HAVE to respond to a nuclear attack. In order for an enemy (obviously the USSR at the time) to cripple us beyond the ability to retaliate, they would be signing their own death sentence along with that of the rest of the world even if we never got a single missile of our own into the air.