From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #410 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 6 September 1995 Volume 05 : Number 410 In this issue: F-22 Re: F-22 Re: Broken Arrow See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dougt@u011.oh.vp.com (Doug Tiffany) Date: Tue, 5 Sep 95 16:04:02 EDT Subject: F-22 I found this at http://www.popularmechanics.com today. Tech Update Of The Day: September 5, 1995 Fighter's Many Faces MARIETTA, GA -- Gone the way of the 600-ship Navy and other Cold War concepts is the dedicated single-mission aircraft. Instead, the Pentagon wants maximum bang for its buck. Air-superiority F-22 may become strike fighter, launching JDAM bombs. Take the F-22. Conceived as an air-to-air fighter when there was still a USSR, the Lockheed Martin/Boeing stealth machine could end up serving double duty as a ground attacker or even a spy plane. Another role under consideration is suppression of enemy air defenses, either with the HARM radar-killing missile or via nonlethal jamming. The Air Force now has Lockheed Martin working on a 2-year F-22 derivatives study. Already, engineers have modified the basic airframe to launch two 1000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), which are gravity bombs with movable fins and GPS units for guidance. During a conflict -- once U.S. forces rule the skies and have destroyed air defenses -- the F-22 could abandon stealth to carry more smart weapons on hardpoints below each wing. - -- A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of house I live in, how much is in my bank account, or what kind of car I drive, but the world may be a different place because I was important in the life of a child. Douglas J. Tiffany dougt@u011.oh.vp.com Varco-Pruden Buildings Van Wert, Ohio ------------------------------ From: BaDge Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 17:38:42 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: F-22 Doug, I think this is a smokescreen. Specialty craft have always been of some importance, although it's true that they are narrowing their needs. Just doesn't sound right. Stay tuned. ;-) See ya! regards, BaDge ------------------------------ From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 23:27:42 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Broken Arrow The definitions for the code words 'DULL SWORD', 'FADED GIANT', 'BENT SPEAR', and 'BROKEN ARROW', as printed in "The Greenpeace Book of the Nuclear Age", by John May (published by Pantheon books in 1989, ISBN 0-679-72963-1), may not be entirely correct. Here are some examples from Chuck Hansens book: * A B-52H carrying nuclear-armed AGM-69 SRAM missiles caught fire... the wind and base firefighers kept the flames away from the... wing hardpoints carrying the SRAMs... the fire burned for more than three hours... had the wind been blowing across... the fuselage, the whole aircraft (including its load of SRAMs) would have been engulfed in flames. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident.) * Accidental firing of a separation rocket on the Titan I missile RV in silo... no fire or injury... neither the missile nor its war-reserve warhead were seriously damaged... (Not a 'Broken Arrow' accident.) * A crewman removed the explosive bolt from a Pershing 1A missile... the loosened bolt allowed separator springs to eject the warhead section... the warhead... fell... slid off the platform... then fell... to the ground... damage to warhead section... did not burn or detonate... warhead was disarmed and replaced... no radioactive contamination... the accident was originally reported as a 'Broken Arrow' incident and was later downgraded to a 'Bent Spear' incident. * An Army CH-47 helicopter carrying nuclear warheads on a logstical movement crashed... engine fire... extinguished by internal extinguisher... aircraft dropped rapidly... hit a row of trees... came to rest in a planted field... the weapons were removed from the helicopter and removed to a storage site... no personnel injuries. ('Dull Sword' incident). And some examples from the Greenpeace book (1950 - 1959): * 2/13/1950, a B-36 crashed at Vancouver Island... the nuclear weapon was dumped into the ocean... the conventional explosives detonated... no nuclear warhead installed. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 4/11/1950, a B-29 crashed into a mountain near Manzano, NM... the aircraft and its nuclear weapon burnt out... the nuclear warhead was on board but not installed. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 7/13/1950, a B-50 crashed near Lebanon, TX... the conventional explosives detonated on impact... no nuclear material on board. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 8/5/1950, a B-29 crashed at Fairfield-Suisun (now Travis) AFB, CA... the (nuclear ?) weapons and the aircraft burnt out. No radioactivity reported. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 10/10/1950, a bomber released a nuclear weapon during an emergency... outside of the ConUS... the conventional explosives detonated on impact... no nuclear warhead installed. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 3/10/1956, a B-47 with two nuclear warhead capsules from MacDill AFB, FL... disappeared on its way to the Mediterranean Sea... never found. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 7/27/1956, a B-47 crashed at RAF Lakenheath into an ammunition bunker containing 3 Mk.6 nuclear bombs... the conventional explosive of the weapons did not explode, and no plutonium was released. ('Broken Arrow' incident). * 5/22/1957, a B-36 lost a Mk.17 hydrogen bomb near Kirtland AFB... the conventional explosives detonated on impact (killing a cow)... some radioactivity released. ('Broken Arrow' incident). * 7/28/1957, a C-124 released two nuclear weapons during an emergency... over the Atlantic Ocean... the weapons did not detonate on impact... no nuclear warhead installed... weapons not found... the C-124 transported 3 nuclear weapons and one nuclear warhead capsule. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 10/11/1956, a B-47 crashed at Homestead AFB... the aircraft and the nuclear weapon burnt out... the conventional explosive of the weapons exploded... the capsule with the nuclear material was undamaged. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 1/31/1958, a B-47 crashed outside of the ConUS (maybe at Sidi Slimane, French-Morocco)... the aircraft and the nuclear weapon burnt out... the conventional explosive of the weapon did not explode, but the radioactive contamination was extreme. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 2/5/1958, a B-47 from Hunter AFB, GA, released a nuclear weapon after a mid-air collision with an F-86... the weapon fell into the sea several miles from the mouth of the Savannah river... the weapon was never found. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 3/11/1958, a B-47 lost a nuclear weapon over Mars Bluff, SC... the conventional explosives detonated on impact destroying a house and damaging a lot of other things... the released plutonium contaminated a vast area. ('Broken Arrow' incident). * 11/4/1958, a B-47 crashed near Dyess AFB, TX... the conventional explosives of the nuclear weapon detonated on impact... near the crash site, nuclear material was recovered. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 11/26/1958, a B-47 and a nuclear weapon burnt out at Chennault AFB, LA... the weapon did not explode, but the aircraft was radioactive contaminated. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 1/18/1959, an F-100 with a nuclear-armed missile/rocket (probably AIR-2) burnt out at an AFB in the Pacific... the nuclear warhead was not installed. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 7/6/1959, a C-124 crashed at Barksdale AFB, LA... the nuclear weapon on board burnt out... the weapon did not explode, but the crash site (below the weapon) was radioactive contaminated. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). * 10/15/1959, a B-52 crashed after a mid-air collision with a KC-135 over Hardinsberg, KY... the two nuclear weapon were recovered, one partly burnt. (Not a 'Broken Arrow' incident). [and many more...] There doesn't seem to be a discernable relation between the severity or the type of an incident and its classification as 'Broken Arrow' or any of the other categories. And here is some general data, showing the scale of nuclear weapon related incidents/accidents: * A recent Greenpeace publication (Neptune Papers No.3) lists 383 nuclear weapons accidents for the U.S. Navy between 1965 and 1977. * It also concluded that 60 nuclear weapons and 6 nuclear submarines with 10 nuclear reactors were lost or dumped into the sea, worldwide (until 1989). * A GAO (General Accounting Office) study states that the Navy reported 233 incidents involving nuclear weapons between 1965 and 1983. * According to new information from Chuck Hansen, there have been a huge number of nuclear weapons accidents: - between 1950 and 1968 alone, a total of 1,250 nuclear weapons were involved in accidents or incidents of varying severity; - including 272 that involved impacts causing at least several detonations of high explosives; - of these 272 weapons, 107 bombs or rockets were unintentionally dropped durig storage, assembly, or loading; - 48 warheads mated to missiles or re-entry vehicles were involved in handling drops, and launch pad or silo accidents; - 41 bombs or warheads were aboard aircraft that crashed; - 26 warheads in containers were in storage, assembly, or loading accidents; - 24 weapons were jettisoned or inadvertantly released from aircraft or ships; - 22 weapons or warhead assemblies were involved in ground transportation crashes; - 4 weapons were accidentally crushed or punctured; The information from Chuck Hansen was relayed by Peter Merlin . - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or: gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #410 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". 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