The Nation : MX Warheads Removed After Accident

The Air Force late last year removed nuclear warheads from five MX strategic missiles after one of the $80-million weapons fell from moorings inside an underground silo in Wyoming, senior Defense Department officials revealed. The removal of a total of 50 warheads, a tenth of all warheads deployed on MX missiles, was aimed at preventing additional damage to the weapons that Air Force officials have called “the keystone of our nation’s strategic defense,” the Washington Post reported. Despite the warhead removal, public affairs officials at F. E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., where the force of 50 MX missiles is deployed, contended last month that the missiles achieved “full operational capability” on Dec. 30. The Air Force has never provided a public account of the accident. Sources nonetheless disclosed that an Air Force panel concluded that the incident last June stemmed from improper production of a single group of five missiles.