page_title: 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion
section_title: The explosion
hierarchical_section_title: 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion / Incident / The explosion
context_page_description: The Damascus Titan missile explosion was a 1980 U.S. Broken Arrow incident involving a Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The incident occurred on September 18–19, 1980, at Missile Complex 374-7 in rural Arkansas when a U.S. Air Force LGM-25C Titan II ICBM loaded with a 9 megaton W-53 Nuclear Warhead had a liquid fuel explosion inside its silo. Launch Complex 374-7 was located in Bradley Township, Van Buren County farmland just 3.3 miles NNE of Damascus, and approximately fifty miles north of Little Rock.
  The incident began with a fuel leak at 6:30 p.m. on September 18, and culminated with the explosion at around 3:00 a.m. on September 19.
  The Strategic Air Command facility of Little Rock Air Force Base was one of eighteen silos in the command of the 308th Strategic Missile Wing, specifically one of the nine silos within its 374th Strategic Missile Squadron, at the time of the explosion.
context_section_description: Early in the morning of Friday, September 19, a two-man PTS investigation team consisting of Senior Airman David Lee Livingston and Sergeant Jeff K. Kennedy entered the silo. Because their vapor detectors indicated an explosive atmosphere, the two were ordered to evacuate. The team was then ordered to reenter the silo to turn on an exhaust fan. Senior airman David Livingston reentered the silo to carry out the order and shortly thereafter, at about 3:00 a.m., the hypergolic fuel exploded – likely due to arcing in the exhaust fan. The initial explosion catapulted the 740-ton silo door away from the silo and ejected the second stage and warhead. Once clear of the silo, the second stage exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate; its safety features prevented any loss of radioactive material or nuclear detonation.
caption: A Titan II ICBM in its launch silo
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