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It must be emphasized up front that there is no official confirmation that the image was taken at Volkel Air Base, that the bent B61 shape is a real weapon (ver

It must be emphasized up front that there is no official confirmation that the image was taken at Volkel Air Base, that the bent B61 shape is a real weapon (versus a trainer), or that the damage was the result of an accident (versus a training simulation).

yellow_postit 4y ago
Exactly. Quite the chain of speculation built from a single image.
- tialaramex 4y ago
  Officially there's no explanation for the image at all, but "It's some teenagers at my local high school, plus a lot of Photoshop" doesn't feel at all likely, does it? The idea that it's Volkel seems reasonably solid unless somebody has photographs known to be from somewhere else which look like that. We know Volkel's B61s are stored in a place exactly like that, we know most US airbases don't look exactly like that even in Europe. So the biggest open question is: Did they prang a real bomb or is that a training unit. I mean, one reason you put so much work into training is that people do prang real bombs and it's important they don't freak out and instead follow procedure. So both are actually likely.
  - jt2190 4y ago
    > Officially there's no explanation for the image at all, but "It's some teenagers at my local high school, plus a lot of Photoshop" doesn't feel at all likely, does it? Consider that a state-level adversary would definitely want to plant “fake news” like this (done indirectly through third-parties, of course), for reasons including: • bogging down our day-to-day operations as everyone “investigates” and “double-checks” • observing who in our organization reacts and how, revealing personnel, command structures, and capabilities. • undermine confidence in current leadership To be clear I’m not saying this particular instance is fake or real, just that this is a technique that can be used to gather information or tie-up on an adversary.
    - tialaramex 4y ago
      Your preferred theory is that Los Alamos National Laboratory students can't have photographs of US military training exercises, but they do publish "fake news" for state-level adversaries of the United States of America? OK.
- azubinski 4y ago
  It's just that Finland joined NATO...
- Overtonwindow 4y ago
  To be fair, it is the news media… Reporters take nuggets of information, plus buckets of speculation, and spin it into something that you will click on.
  - andyjohnson0 4y ago
    > To be fair, it is the news media… The article in on the website of the Federation of American Scientists. Quote from their About page: "The Federation of American Scientists is a nonprofit policy research and advocacy organization founded in 1945 to meet national security challenges with evidence-based, scientifically-driven, and nonpartisan policy, analysis, and research." Hardly the "news media" or clickbait.
    - splistud 4y ago
      This is an advocacy group. Doesn't even rise to the level of clickbait.

yellow_postit 4y ago

Exactly. Quite the chain of speculation built from a single image.

tialaramex 4y ago
Officially there's no explanation for the image at all, but "It's some teenagers at my local high school, plus a lot of Photoshop" doesn't feel at all likely, does it? The idea that it's Volkel seems reasonably solid unless somebody has photographs known to be from somewhere else which look like that. We know Volkel's B61s are stored in a place exactly like that, we know most US airbases don't look exactly like that even in Europe. So the biggest open question is: Did they prang a real bomb or is that a training unit. I mean, one reason you put so much work into training is that people do prang real bombs and it's important they don't freak out and instead follow procedure. So both are actually likely.
- jt2190 4y ago
  > Officially there's no explanation for the image at all, but "It's some teenagers at my local high school, plus a lot of Photoshop" doesn't feel at all likely, does it? Consider that a state-level adversary would definitely want to plant “fake news” like this (done indirectly through third-parties, of course), for reasons including: • bogging down our day-to-day operations as everyone “investigates” and “double-checks” • observing who in our organization reacts and how, revealing personnel, command structures, and capabilities. • undermine confidence in current leadership To be clear I’m not saying this particular instance is fake or real, just that this is a technique that can be used to gather information or tie-up on an adversary.
  - tialaramex 4y ago
    Your preferred theory is that Los Alamos National Laboratory students can't have photographs of US military training exercises, but they do publish "fake news" for state-level adversaries of the United States of America? OK.
azubinski 4y ago
It's just that Finland joined NATO...
Overtonwindow 4y ago
To be fair, it is the news media… Reporters take nuggets of information, plus buckets of speculation, and spin it into something that you will click on.
- andyjohnson0 4y ago
  > To be fair, it is the news media… The article in on the website of the Federation of American Scientists. Quote from their About page: "The Federation of American Scientists is a nonprofit policy research and advocacy organization founded in 1945 to meet national security challenges with evidence-based, scientifically-driven, and nonpartisan policy, analysis, and research." Hardly the "news media" or clickbait.
  - splistud 4y ago
    This is an advocacy group. Doesn't even rise to the level of clickbait.