So we're not going to get blown up?
Yeah, screw the terror alert. I'm much more worried about the retardation alert. If it existed it would have been going off constantly since 1967.
@northstar
No offense, but the color coding is, in my opinion, nothing more than a right wing tool....only goes up when something they don't like happens. Now way it would ever would go up when they screw up. That would imply that THEY were terrorists.
Sqrl said:
On the first part: I thought I was clear in the idea that it had to be "100% unambiguous authorization" for them to launch. Not sure why he would have to guess the correct sequence though since the other information in the football is information on the plans of attack and instructions for what the procedural order of things is...after all its not like every president launches a nuke =P On the second part: Thats just it, as far as I know we have never actually lost a nuclear weapon. So the idea that it would happen, in my mind at least, is at least 100x more far fetched than say Will Farrel ushering in doomsday with the football. As for idiots loading them onto planes for a warzone I would say, so what? They won't fire without authorization the same as they won't arm. They don't just safeguard detonation they safeguard delivery as well. How many people do you think would have figured out that it would be easy to send one of these bad boys overseas and have it be "lost" before anyone could find it by pulling this stunt? But in the event it did leave the plane, the fact that each of the warheads is fitted with tracking devices makes it easy to locate, besides how many people can recognize a nuke on sight to know what it is and try to grab it? By the time they got the thing on a truck there would be a minimum 10 satellites watching them and more than likely there would be several heavily armed and well trained soldiers within seconds of blowing them all away. But like I said, the situation isn't a "good thing" but good things can come of it. My hope is that the people who do these jobs will be given an example of what happens when you make a mistake (aka large demotion or discharge) and hopefully provide just a little more incentive to be ever watchful. |
We've actually lost several nukes. As far anybody knows, they've all been in deep waters. And again, these people are supposed to treat every situation with nukes in exactly the same manner. If it can happen once anywherem, it can happen again anywhere - though I'm guessing that most crews are going to be quadruple-checking for a few months at least, even if there's no policy reform. The sheer number of safeguards that we supposedly have in place to prevent this indicates that this isn't just the rsult of one istake, but an entire series of mistakes across several different stages in the chain of custody. You have to be extremely sloppy for this happen.
If it's a nuclear-tipped missilelike these were, or like most of our weapons, they can be pretty easily launched on accident if the crew isn't aware that they're nukes. They use the same fire-control and hard-point technology as any normal weapon of a similar type. The safeguards are for arming, and to let the personnel know that they're authorized to use them. If they don't know that they're carrying nukes, they're not going to be looking for authorization. A missile submarine may require two keys to be turned before the tubes can be emptied, but those are specialized platforms, and those tubes don't carry anything but nukes. It's very different on a B-52, or any other nuclear-capable platform.
Remember, it took these guys several hours to figure out the nukes were even missing, and even then the people who were supposed to have custody never knew. It wasn't until the plane landed and performed their checks that they finally figured out that "Hey, isn't this kind of dangerous?" If the plane is downed or the weapons are accidentally launched, it can be quite a while before we even know to start looking.
And if they're lost somewhere in the iddle East - leaving aside the fact that there quite a few people in that area that probably can't be trusted with nukes any more than this crew, but we'd probably have to fight another war to get ghem back, and reMcovery would not be guaranteed.
If we are being honest, neither of us is informed as to the full handling procedures of nuclear weapons. We are pretty much speculating what is, and isn't done but we don't have a lot to base that on. Unless you happen to have had or have that job in the military (its possible)? But then I would ask why are you telling people this stuff LOL.
About the only things we can reasonably speculate on are the well known facts that it wouldn't have detonated, which we agree on. And what would happen if they were dropped in enemy territory.
I have to say I think you severely underestimate how seriously we would take the situation. Our response would be decisive and swift. And I doubt highly that the public would ever find out, or even the government of whatever country they were dropped in for that matter. Airmen might get sloppy when loading a plane but I think the guys who are trained for crazy Splinter Cell like missions we are talking about are quite a bit more reliable.
This is of course not to mention the tracking capabilities on the Warheads, as well as the fact that it would take them years to make use of the thing unless they just wanted to blow it up where they had it....then it would probably only take 2 or 3 weeks of work.....once they actually found someone even remotely qualified to do the work.
 |
| To Each Man, Responsibility |
Galaki said:
|
So lets see... 0.01% of a bomb dropping.... and since it probably has a 10 mile radius, I guess we just divide the total area of it by the total square miles of the United States. And then you get something like the chance of being struck by lightning.
about 1000 people get struck by a lightning a year, please don't say that.
About Us |
Terms of Use |
Privacy Policy |
Advertise |
Staff |
Contact
Display As Desktop
Display As Mobile
© 2006-2024 VGChartz Ltd. All rights reserved.
