IN THE U.S. MILITARY, A BROKEN ARROW CAN LEVEL A CITY


By bblouin
broken arrow

Since its invention, arguably no weapon in the history of mankind has become more prolific than the nuclear bomb. A nuclear weapon can bring varying ranges of destruction, but the effects are devastating and widespread no matter what kind is used. This is why it’s a no-brainer that taking care of these weapons is a place that leaves zero room for error. The bad news is that people are good at many things but are truly only experts at messing things up. The result of doing so when it comes to nukes is what is known as a “Broken Arrow.” Not to be confused with Broken Arrow, OK, a lovely suburb of Tulsa, these events involve the U.S. military mishandling weapons of mass destruction. Suggested read:Top 30 Coolest Military Weapons You've Never Heard Of

What Does Broken Arrow Mean?

This can be tricky because while Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is the right answer, there's also a Western from the '50s named Broken Arrow. More recently, a film starring John Travolta and Christian Slater of the same name was released in 1996. The film in ‘96, however, is not a remake, but instead, it derives its name from the Broken Arrow meaning in the military. Using the military term Broken Arrow means that there has been an unexpected event with a nuclear warhead. This includes unscheduled launching, firing, theft, or simply losing a nuclear weapon.

A List of Lost Nuclear Weapons by the United States

As crazy as it might sound, the U.S. military is missing six nuclear weapons. These Broken Arrow events occurred between 1950 and 1968. An interesting time to experience lost nuclear weapons considering the tension felt around the world during the Cold War. At the time of this writing, there have been a total of 32 Broken Arrows by the U.S. military. While there's no reason to believe that there's any public risk, of the six nuclear weapons still unaccounted for, only one is thought to be capable of detonating. I don’t know about you, but that still seems like a lot. The fact that there's a nuke just chillin’ somewhere is a bit less than ideal. Nevertheless, it's been decades, and things have been ok so far. Here's each unaccounted-for Broken Arrow, including the one warhead still potentially capable of going off: February 13, 1950 While performing a mock nuclear strike, the crew of a United States Air Force Convair B-36 bomber began to have engine trouble as it was on its way from Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Carswell AFB, Texas. They figured that crashing while carrying a nuclear weapon wasn’t a good idea and were ordered to drop its payload, a Fat Man bomb. This 30-kiloton Mark 4 was sent into the Pacific Ocean, and while it didn’t have the plutonium core needed for a nuclear detonation, it still had a lot of uranium. March 10, 1956 Two more nuclear cores were lost six years later. It’s believed that a B-47 bomber headed to Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco, from MacDill AFB, Florida, likely crashed while over the Mediterranean Sea. Contact was lost after its first fueling, and the aircraft never made it to its second scheduled refueling. Which weapon was lost hasn’t been disclosed; however, a 3,400-kilogram Mark 15 would be typical for that aircraft. Neither the plane nor any nuclear cores have been found from the incident. February 5, 1958 An Air Force B-47 bomber was carrying a nuclear weapon when it collided with an F-86 near Savannah, GA, during a combat simulation. The crew tried to land many times but needed to reduce weight. The Mk 15 would join the list of nuclear weapons lost by the U.S. after it was dropped over the Wassaw Sound near the mouth of the Savannah River. This was necessary to avoid it detonating while landing, but the weapon was never found. January 24, 1961 There were two 24-megaton nuclear bombs aboard a B-52 near Goldsboro, NC. The aircraft would crash not too long after taking off, and the military was then tasked with finding the weapon. Three of the four arming mechanisms were recovered, and the bad news is that they had been activated. It’s likely that a uranium core is buried in that field because when attempts to recover the second bomb's tail, buried 20 feet underground, were made, other measures came into play. An easement of 400 feet was acquired over the buried components by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to prevent digging. So far, Goldsboro still stands, and the plan to contain this Broken Arrow is working. December 5, 1965 Keeping aircraft on aircraft carriers is more difficult than you might think. Just as the military can lose nukes from time to time, they also lose aircraft to the sea. This is one of those times where both occurred because an A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft carrying a one-megaton thermonuclear weapon rolled off the USS Ticonderoga. Officially, the U.S. Navy wouldn’t even admit to it. Sadly, a pilot was lost, and both the plane and the nuke sank into the Pacific Ocean around 80 miles from Japan's Ryuki Island chain. This was a far cry from the claim made by the branch that it was lost 500 miles from land. The fallout, all puns intended, of this nuclear mishap would be the Japanese government no longer allowing the U.S. to bring nuclear weapons into Japanese territories. This is fair, considering losing a nuclear weapon and then lying about it is sadly the better end of the measuring stick for us and Japan on the subject. May 22, 1968(?) It’s a bit harder to pinpoint the exact date that the latest Broken Arrow occurred, but it’s believed to be in the first portion of 1968. The reason for this particular date is that it coincides with the date believed to be the sinking of the USS Scorpion, a nuclear attack submarine. The cause of the sinking is still unknown, but she was lost around 400 miles from the Azores Islands, southwest of the Portuguese archipelago. This tragedy would claim the lives of 99 crewmembers as well as two nuclear-tipped weapons with payloads yielding up to 250 kilotons.

The 'Broken Arrow' Movie Amps up the Action

The real-life stories of Broken Arrows that haven’t been recovered are often tragic and less than exciting. Besides, of course, the threat of a rogue nuke going off at any time. But the point is, when we lose nuclear weapons, it's usually because something went wrong on our end. Broken Arrow is a John Woo action flick that takes the idea of terrorists stealing two nuclear weapons and leaving the military with the task of recovering them. Next time you’re looking through movies, Broken Arrow is available for streaming on Prime Video to take you through 108 minutes of action-packed cinema. Hopefully, the movie is the closest any of us ever come to experiencing a Broken Arrow. These events are less than ideal, but if history is any indication, lost nuclear weapons don’t appear to present too large of a threat to humanity… so far. Read next:A SEAL Team 6 Movie About Adam Brown Is Coming, But at What Cost?


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