'Bent Spear' betrays USAF neglect of nuclear mission

A "breakdown of leadership and discipline" at two US Air Force (USAF) bases led to an incident in which nuclear-armed missiles were accidentally loaded onto a B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber last year, according to an ongoing series of reviews.

In a 12 February testimony prepared for the Senate Armed Services Committee, three senior USAF generals summarised the findings to date and identified several factors that contributed to the incident. According to their testimony, the main cause of the August 2007 incident was a "unit-level leadership and discipline breakdown at Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB) and Minot AFB" that fostered disregard for established procedures. USAF investigations blame "an informal scheduling process" that led to the installation of the nuclear-armed pylon.

The USAF testimony also pointed to the declining attention being paid to the nuclear mission and diminishing experience for nuclear-trained officers.

In their testimony, the three senior USAF generals - Lieutenant General Daniel Darnell, Major General Polly Peyer and Major General Douglas Raaberg - noted a "declining focus" within the service on the strategic nuclear bomber mission.

"Since the end of the Cold War, aircraft units have taken on conventional commitments in the midst of an ever-increasing operational tempo and a continuously shrinking force," the testimony states. "Thus, the role of the strategic nuclear mission, especially in dual-tasked aircraft units, competed for time, attention and focus. The turning point of this diminished focus began when aircraft came off nuclear alert status."

The incident - referred to in US parlance as a 'Bent Spear' - involved the mishandling of six nuclear-tipped AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles. In late August 2007 a pylon carrying the six missiles was accidentally installed on a B-52 at Minot AFB, North Dakota. The aircraft then flew to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, where munitions handlers discovered the error and notified their command.

Image: A USAF B-52 bomber similar to the one involved in the 'Bent Spear' incident (USAF) 297 of 877 words