The U.S. Air Force has revealed that three airmenIn were stripped of their nuclear certification and immediately removed from their active duties in 2014 after errors resulted in the damage of a nuclear-armed missile, while their employers, The Air Force, conducted an investigation into maintenance errors made by the men.
The incident took place on May 17, 2014, in which the three-man crew were troubleshooting the missile, designated as the Minuteman 3, when an error occurred. This error is said to have caused $1.8 million in damage to the missile, The Fairfield Citizen reported. Despite the event now coming to light, almost two years after the fact, the Air Force has decided against revealing the exact nature of the incident. They have not revealed if the damage was physical on the missile itself, and they further state that the incident is too sensitive to be shared publicly.
The Air Force, however, has assured the public that the incident caused no injuries and did not pose any threat to the public's safety. Top Pentagon officials, as well as members of Congress, were said to have been briefed about the incident in December, according to The Guardian.
The revelation of this incident comes at a time when the Air Force is under extreme scrutiny for both its need to modernize in the ever changing landscape of war technology and also for the public's desire for the Air Force to be more forthright with regarding such incidents. In fact, this is not the first time that the Air Force has been forced to explain a folly. It was discovered in 2008 that a fire in a launcher equipment room went undetected for five days, The Guardian reported.
Regardless of any mistrust, the Air Force maintains that they handled this particular situation in the best way possible. The three crewmen were fully retrained before being placed back on active duty, according to BBC News.
