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US orders policy review following fuze shipment error
By Doug Richardson
01 April 2008
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a full investigation into how four radar proximity fuzes designed for use on the Mk 12 re-entry vehicle of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) were accidentally shipped to Taiwan in the second half of 2006.
The error was not discovered until recently and the fuzes have since been returned to the United States.
Speaking at a Department of Defense (DoD) press conference on 25 March, Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ryan Henry described the fuze as "similar to what we find in artillery shells ... It has to do with sensing proximity to the ground and saying when you get within a certain distance to the ground".
Once the fuze has sensed that it is at the correct height above the ground, it would send an electrical signal to the weapons package - the nuclear warhead itself - to start the sequence of events needed to create a nuclear explosion. Designed specifically for use with the Mk 12, the fuze could not be used in any other nuclear or non-nuclear weapon system.
In March 2005, the four units - described by Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne as "non-nuclear nose cone assemblies and their associated electrical components for a ballistic missile" - were shipped from F E Warren Air Force Base (AFB) in Wyoming to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) warehouse at Hill AFB in Utah. The base realised that it had more fuzes than it needed, so returned the surplus to Hill AFB, where the main stock of these items is held.
On arrival at Hill AFB, the fuzes should have gone to a classified storage area. However, they were placed in unclassified storage. When Taiwan placed a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) order for batteries for use in utility helicopters, the DLA mistakenly removed the four fuzes from the warehouse and shipped them to Taiwan.