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> a B-52 broke up while flying over Goldsboro, North Carolina, dropping two nuclear weapons to the ground. One was relatively undamaged after its parachute depl

> a B-52 broke up while flying over Goldsboro, North Carolina, dropping two nuclear weapons to the ground. One was relatively undamaged after its parachute deployed successfully, but a later examination revealed that three out of four safeguards had failed Okay, that's scary. I can just imagine someone looking to improve efficiency or cost savings thinking that four safeguards is over-engineered.

hoherd 3y ago
Sam Harris podcast episode 210[1] had guests William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense and founding member of Nuclear Threat Initiative[2], and his grand daughter Lisa Perry, Communications Director at At The Brink[3], to talk in large part about that scary aspect of nuclear weapons, and how an accidental nuclear war is more likely than a deliberate one. [1] https://youtu.be/NVnwc4rZI_0?t=12m40s https://youtu.be/NVnwc4rZI_0?t=12m40s Episode 210 (no paywall) [2] https://www.nti.org https://www.nti.org "focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats" [3] https://atthebrink.org https://atthebrink.org Podcast about the modern situation with nuclear weapons
k1t 3y ago
My understanding is that all of the safeguards worked as intended and characterizing them as 'failed' is a bit unfair. The three that "failed" were designed to prevent the bomb exploding on the runway (before take-off), on the plane (before being dropped), or in the air (before the plane could escape). Since this event involved a plane taking off, dropping the bomb, and the bomb parachuting to the ground - it was largely indistinguishable (to the bomb) from an actual intentional event. Only the cockpit Safe/Air/Ground selector prevented detonation. Note that the cockpit selector did fail in other incidents, arming bombs while still in the 'safe' position due to a short circuit elsewhere.
gibspaulding 3y ago
Here's a fun/terrifying Wikipedia rabbit hole for you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accid... I think my favorite is when we accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb in someone's yard in South Carolina.

hoherd 3y ago

Sam Harris podcast episode 210[1] had guests William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense and founding member of Nuclear Threat Initiative[2], and his grand daughter Lisa Perry, Communications Director at At The Brink[3], to talk in large part about that scary aspect of nuclear weapons, and how an accidental nuclear war is more likely than a deliberate one. [1] https://youtu.be/NVnwc4rZI_0?t=12m40s https://youtu.be/NVnwc4rZI_0?t=12m40s Episode 210 (no paywall) [2] https://www.nti.org https://www.nti.org "focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats" [3] https://atthebrink.org https://atthebrink.org Podcast about the modern situation with nuclear weapons

k1t 3y ago

My understanding is that all of the safeguards worked as intended and characterizing them as 'failed' is a bit unfair. The three that "failed" were designed to prevent the bomb exploding on the runway (before take-off), on the plane (before being dropped), or in the air (before the plane could escape). Since this event involved a plane taking off, dropping the bomb, and the bomb parachuting to the ground - it was largely indistinguishable (to the bomb) from an actual intentional event. Only the cockpit Safe/Air/Ground selector prevented detonation. Note that the cockpit selector did fail in other incidents, arming bombs while still in the 'safe' position due to a short circuit elsewhere.

gibspaulding 3y ago

Here's a fun/terrifying Wikipedia rabbit hole for you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accid... I think my favorite is when we accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb in someone's yard in South Carolina.