page_title: 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident
section_title: New command
hierarchical_section_title: 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident / Aftermath / New command
caption_attribution_description: United States Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley answers questions from the press during a media roundtable hosted in the Pentagon on October 24, 2008 in which Donley announced the creation of the Air Force Global Strike Command. The new command will control all Air Force nuclear bombers, missiles, and personnel.
context_page_description: On 29 August 2007, six AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead, were mistakenly loaded onto a United States Air Force B-52H heavy bomber at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and transported to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The nuclear warheads in the missiles were supposed to have been removed before the missiles were taken from their storage bunker. The missiles with the nuclear warheads were not reported missing, and remained mounted to the aircraft at both Minot and Barksdale for 36 hours. During this period, the warheads were not protected by the various mandatory security precautions for nuclear weapons.
  The incident was reported to the top levels of the United States military and referred to by observers as a Bent Spear incident, which indicates "an unexpected occurrence involving nuclear weapons or nuclear components that does not fall under the NUCFLASH or BROKEN ARROW categories" or "a nuclear incident involving a nuclear weapon/warhead or nuclear component. In the Army and Air Force, this term includes a 'significant incident' as defined in DoD Directive 5100.52".
context_section_description: On 24 October 2008 new USAF Secretary Michael Donley announced the creation of Air Force Global Strike Command, which became operational on 7 August 2009. The USAF's intercontinental nuclear missile force was moved from Air Force Space Command to the new command. Barksdale Air Force Base was selected as the location of the new command's headquarters. The new major command is led by General Robin Rand and controls all USAF nuclear-capable bombers, missiles, and personnel.
caption: USAF Secretary Michael Donley discusses the creation of the Global Strike Command with media representatives at the Pentagon on 24 October 2008.
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