Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Air Force missile carrier tips over

Air Force missile carrier tips over

Aug 01, 2008 - 04:06:19 CDT

By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer

A vehicle carrying a rocket booster for an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile tipped over while being transported from the Minot Air Force Base to a launch facility in northwestern North Dakota, the military said.

The Air Force said no one was seriously injured and the public was not in danger.

The vehicle crashed on a gravel road at about 8 a.m. Thursday near Makoti about 70 miles from the base, the Air Force said.

"It rolled on its side and into a ditch," said Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, an Air Force spokesman. "It was preparing to turn, and it appears the wheels got off the edge of the roadway.

"We'll have to determine whether it was a problem with the road, a problem with the driver or a problem with the equipment," Burg said Thursday.

"There was no weapon present and no danger to the public," he said.

Two airmen in the vehicle were not injured except "for a bump here and there," Burg said.

The booster rocket, which is 66 feet long and weighs 75,000 pounds, was being hauled in an enclosed trailer, Burg said. A convoy of security personnel was escorting the truck, he said.

The booster rocket and the transport rig likely will remain in the ditch at least until Friday, he said.

"We have a collection of the best experts we have assessing the situation - we want to make sure we can move it back on its wheels and onto the roadway," Burg said.

It is a routine procedure to transport the boosters to and from the base, and it is not the first time a missile transport vehicle from the base has been involved in a crash, he said.

"We have had three or four similar accidents over the last 25 to 30 years," he said.

The truck tip-over is the latest in a long string of recent incidents at the Minot base, which is the center for 150 Minuteman III missiles, sunk in hardened silos, and is one of two B-52 bomber bases in the country. The base is home to about 4,800 active duty military personnel.

Earlier this month, three ballistic missile crew members from the base fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices. The Air Force said the missile launch codes were outdated and remained secure at all times. But that came after other missteps, including an incident last August in which a B-52 bomber that was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads flew from the Minot base to Louisiana.

In May, the Minot Air Force Base's 5th Bomb Wing, which was blamed for the foul-up, came up short in a nuclear weapons handling inspection. It will have to be retested.

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Comments

Mortimer wrote on Aug 6, 2008 1:46 PM:

" To Old SAC Troop ... SAC went bye-bye in 1992...now it is the Strategic Command "

Old SAC Troop wrote on Aug 4, 2008 12:32 PM:

" Where is SAC? "

Pat Porter wrote on Aug 4, 2008 11:23 AM:

" I live in Washington state, in a small tourist community across from the west- coasts largest munition depot. There is something happening with our military today that is quite disconcerting. In Feb. at the depot, a truck (R&R Trucking) ramed into the front gate carrying 3,000 pounds of explosives. The Navy just said everything is fine, don't worry you are safe. Is the problem with personal? Is it hard to get sensible people to go into the military these days? It is not just the Air Force messing up, it is the whole military that is going to hell in a handbasket! We need a couple good men as they say.
Pat Porter
Port Townsend, WA "

Dray wrote on Aug 3, 2008 4:19 AM:

" All I can say is....HAH "

JM wrote on Aug 1, 2008 11:27 AM:

" When it rains it pours! "

lutefisk wrote on Aug 1, 2008 11:27 AM:

" This is nothing new. I grew up near a missle silo and there were frequently one of the AF vehicles doing something stupid. A couple times I got run off the road with field equipment because in most of their simulations with high tech equipment they can't stop out of concern of terrorist actions. Many of these people also have never driven on gravel roads and don't know to slow down. "

Deb wrote on Aug 1, 2008 11:15 AM:

" Whoopsie daisies!!

It's seriosly the keystone cops up there... "

here we go again wrote on Aug 1, 2008 10:31 AM:

" Another Minot Base incident, after flying a live weapon across the country and then having airmen fall asleep on the job. And this from a base which has been mentioned for closing. Am I the only one getting the feeling someone is trying to get this base closed? Not a good job, MAFB, not good at all. "

publicity wrote on Aug 1, 2008 9:13 AM:

" Where is Conrad to react to this. It would be great publicity for him. "

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