Minot bomb wing recertified for nukes

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Inspection came 7 months after bombs were flown...


Minot bomb wing recertified for nukes
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Apr 4, 2008 7:05:28 EDT

Air Combat Command has restored the 5th Bomb Wing’s certification to handle nuclear weapons at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

Gen. John Corley, ACC commander, recertified the wing on March 31 after ACC inspectors finished reviewing the wing for its initial nuclear surety inspection on March 29 and recommended the wing restart operations and training with nuclear weapons, said Minot and ACC officials.

The 5th Bomb Wing lost its certification immediately after it lost track of six nuclear warheads for close to 36 hours in late August. The warheads, mounted to advanced cruise missiles, were flown by a B-52H Stratofortress from Minot to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., where an airman discovered them on the plane, sitting unguarded on the runway. It was the first time a wing lost its certification to handle nuclear weapons since Strategic Air Command was deactivated in 1992, said Maj. Tom Crosson, ACC spokesman.

The recertification comes just four days after Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered an inventory of all nuclear munitions by the Air Force, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency after Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne announced on March 20 that secret fuses to nuclear ballistic missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006.

In another month, hundreds of inspectors will descend upon Minot for the wing’s joint nuclear surety inspection, or NSI, which will include Inspector General teams from the Defense Department, the Air Force, Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command, along with members of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/04/airforce_minot_recertification_040308/