
US Hellfire missile wrongly shipped to Cuba - rl3
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35259429
======
dogma1138
Well it's better than shipping not one but six god damn nukes (mounted on six
god damn stealth cruise missiles apparently) to the wrong place...
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_n...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_incident)

~~~
leeoniya
and if you really wanna shit yourself:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash)

"The two 3-4 megaton[a] MK. 39 nuclear bombs separated from the gyrating
aircraft as it broke up between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (300 and 610 m). Five of
the six arming mechanisms on one of the bombs activated, causing it to execute
many of the steps needed to arm itself, such as charging the firing capacitors
and, critically, deployment of a 100-foot-diameter (30 m) retard parachute.
The parachute allowed that bomb to hit the ground with little damage."

~~~
sandworm101
Or, closer to home (my home at least)...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_British_Columbia_B-36_cra...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_British_Columbia_B-36_crash)

There is some debate as to how many years any bomb parts, including the
important bits, may have sat open and unguarded on Canadian soil. There is
even the possibility that the core still lies somewhere nearby as we have no
definitive answer as to its recovery.

[Cores at this time were transported separate from the bomb. Arming involved
manually inserting the core while in flight. It could be anywhere, even thrown
into the sea.]

~~~
leeoniya
okay, i'll see your nuke loss and raise you one 000000 nuke launch code :)

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515598/Launch-
code-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515598/Launch-code-US-
nuclear-weapons-easy-00000000.html)

~~~
sandworm101
That "code" was widely known ... to the people controlling the missiles, the
only people in the world who could actually use it. Imho that means there was
no code.

"Our launch checklist in fact instructed us, the firing crew, to double-check
the locking panel in our underground launch bunker to ensure that no digits
other than zero had been inadvertently dialed into the panel."

[http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/nearly-
two-d...](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/nearly-two-decades-
nuclear-launch-code-minuteman-silos-united-states-00000000/)

Or to really get the heartbeat up:

"WASHINGTON — The Air Force said Wednesday it was only as "an added
precaution" that an armored car was hurriedly parked atop a Minuteman 3 silo
after the nuclear missile inside gave off false signals suggesting it was
about to launch itself nearly four years ago." [They left the brakes off so
that, should the cover slide open, the truck might fall into the silo and
destroy the missile.]

[http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-29/news/mn-17348_1_minut...](http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-29/news/mn-17348_1_minuteman-
missile)

~~~
leeoniya
that missle was never close to going anywhere it was a false alarm from eol
sensors.

also the nuke loss in canada could never have been detonated. it was just a
bunch of uranium that was dropped.

cant really compare with a fully armed 4 megaton nuke that fell out of a
plane. for reference, Hiroshima yeild was 21 kT.

that's 21,000 vs 4,000,000

~~~
sandworm101
But that core in Canada is basically the opening scene from The Sum of All
Fears. Every other device was retrieved asap. This one .. who knows.

~~~
mikeash
Several nuclear weapons have been lost over the decades. There's one off the
shore of Georgia that's never been found, one in Puget Sound, and a couple
more. If you count submarines, there's also the wreckage of the Scorpion which
contains two unrecovered nuclear warheads.

~~~
igravious
Holy guacamole. Hey Mike, do you (or anyone else) have links to save me
searching? Thanks in advance! Morbid fascination/curiosity...

~~~
mikeash
I double-checked my memory by going here and doing a cmd-F on "lost,"
"weapon," "warhead," and such:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accid...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents)

This includes a lot more than just incidents where weapons were lost, but that
may be a feature for you rather than a bug.

~~~
igravious
Thanks Mike...

------
sandworm101
So this thing was basically just the seeker head? I can see how there might be
tech in they they don't want the cubans to see, but this isn't a stealth
bomber. Hellfires are sold/used/shipped all over the world. The
russians/chinese have surely acquired some through back channels years ago. If
not purchased, then scavenged from downed drones.

------
blackguardx
I'm shocked that this ended up on a commercial flight. After reading Command
and Control though, I'm sure this stuff happened all the time in the past and
it was just quietly swept under the rug.

~~~
dogma1138
It's an inert missile you can ship pretty much anything on commercial flights
with a few exceptions as long as you have the proper customs authorization.

The ICAO allows the transport of dangerous materials on commercial flights
(even explosives)
[http://www.icao.int/safety/DangerousGoods/Pages/annex-18.asp...](http://www.icao.int/safety/DangerousGoods/Pages/annex-18.aspx)

~~~
ape4
Except no hoverboards. [http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/262905-major-
airlin...](http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/262905-major-airlines-ban-
hoverboards-on-flights)

~~~
dogma1138
Those rules don't apply if you actually ship cargo, as long as the cargo is
secured according to regulations it can be put on board even if it's a
commercial flight which carries passengers. Even as a normal passenger you
most likely can make arrangements with shipping dangerous goods with any
airliner they would most likely direct you to a logistics provider that will
handle it according to regulations.

I've bought quite a few dangerous goods like actual pure lithium which were
shipped internationally by air using regular post (which in most cases is
shipped through regular commercial flights) including actually pure lithium
and various pressurized gas containers. The shipping costs were not even more
expensive than what would a normal package of the same size and weight would
cost the only difference is that i had to send them signed customs forms
approving the import prior to them shipping it to me. The only other different
thing is that on one of the bigger packages (a canister of helium) the local
postal service actually called me and said i have to pay extra for a
specialized driver with a permit to transport dangerous goods to pick it up
and deliver it to me, that actually ended up costing more than the express air
shipping and oddly enough only one package was flagged which just shows how
poor custom enforcement is actually is unless there's Ebay or Amazon written
on the invoice in which case they know exactly how much to rip you off on
import taxes.

------
patcheudor
I am disappointed that this was not titled "The Second Cuban Missile Crisis."
Opportunity missed and click-bait avoided.

~~~
ipsin
Not everyone resisted the temptation.

The Mirror (UK): New Cuban missile crisis as makers of Hellfire rocket send it
to Havana by accident [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/new-cuban-
missile-cr...](http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/new-cuban-missile-
crisis-makers-7142533)

RT: Cuban ‘Hellfire’ missile crisis: US wants rocket back after it was
accidently sent to Havana [https://www.rt.com/usa/328303-cuba-missile-usa-
accident/](https://www.rt.com/usa/328303-cuba-missile-usa-accident/)

------
nidpori
Or accidentally shipping "helicopter batteries" aka fuses for Minuteman
nuclear missile warheads to Taiwan:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/world/asia/25cnd-
military....](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/world/asia/25cnd-
military.html?_r=0)

------
omginternets
Meh. I don't see what they could do with it... Industrial espionage _maybe_ ,
but it's not exactly new tech. The reason people buy missiles from the US has
more to do with the cost of setting up weapons production infrastructure than
not knowing how to build laser-guided AGMs.

~~~
ipsin
It includes the firmware for a widely-deployed missile system. [How well is
military firmware protected, anyway?]

Even if you can't use that to improve your own missile designs, it's possible
that it could lead to potential countermeasures.

------
rs999gti
According to the article the missile was inert.

But it is not the first time a mistake has been made. In 2010, the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms sold untracked guns to Mexican Drug Cartels AKA
Operation Fast and Furious, which led to the death of a US Border Patrol
Agent.

[http://www.latimes.com/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg-
storygalle...](http://www.latimes.com/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg-
storygallery.html)

~~~
hellbanner
That wasn't a mistake -- US agents were strengthening a cartel to adjust the
power balance in Mexico's cartel wars.

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guelo
Seems weird to me that with their billions of dollars the DoD doesn't operate
a shipping network ferrying equipment back and forth that contractors can use.

~~~
Animats
DoD operated the Military Air Transport Service from 1948 to 1966. It was
DoD's own airline, with routes to US military bases, using civilian-type
equipment. By the 1960s, civilian aviation was providing better service and
using jets, so the MATS airline-type operations were shut down. Since then,
DoD does only tactical airlift itself; trips between routine points are
commercial, sometimes using commercial charters.

------
hoodoof
Clearly a shipping error from
[http://www.villainsource.com/](http://www.villainsource.com/)

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finid
Well, at least they did not ship it to "rebels" in Syria.

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tomcam
Imagine the press coverage if this had happened under the previous
administration.

