Have we been reckless?
We've never had a serious accident. So maybe it's not luck, maybe there are a lot of controls that actually work well.
We've never had a serious accident. So maybe it's not luck, maybe there are a lot of controls that actually work well.
For example, the locks in place at each Titan II facility all had exactly the same code (1111). And they were left unlocked.
Regarding the accidents, here are a few examples:
Thule Airbase crash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash
Damascus incident? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_ex...
How about the two hydrogen bombs that were accidentally dropped from a B-52: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/usaf-atomic-bo...
Or what is probably the worst incident to date, the B-52 that caught fire and almost blew up with 75,000 people within the blast radius: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-13/news/910328029...
The list goes on and on. That is the reason why the book specifically called out that it was a miracle we haven't had any (known) detonations.
Here is a list of the _known_ broken arrow events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_nuclear...
Keep in mind that the article we're discussing is about a 53 year old event that was _just_ revealed. There are more of them -- we just don't know about it, yet.
As an example, an implosion type bomb needs to be detonated at several places around the bomb simultaneously. It's designed such that if you don't have detonation of the explosives all at the exact same time then the pit won't make a nuclear blast.
They're very safe in terms of accidental nuclear detonation, but still, if the explosives are detonated it's going to make quite a mess to say the least.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash
3 of the 4 arming mechanisms activated. I would say it's a combination of good luck and good controls :)