US came within an inch of nuking itself

1961? Striking but bloody hell I thought it was recent, I hope the systems now are much safer...

Makes you wonder. Weren't there reports of cruise missiles flying off course? I believe they shot some down that had 'deviated' from plan. Presumably this risk is less now because planes aren't carrying nukes, but you can't help wondering if the US missile command and control systems (and those elsewhere, like in Britain) are really as safe and certain as they claim.

Of the four bomb safety systems that were supposed to work when a bomb was accidentally dropped, three failed and only a small switch prevented the disaster.

I wonder who they would have blamed it on an gone to war with

I would imagine bomb technology has come a long way in 50 years, and so the failures that happened then are unlikely to happen now (especially as any incident such as this will provoke a re-working of the safety systems, etc).

So they appreciated that the first 3 security systems were not fool-proof and they had the 4th

Great planning

Makes you wonder. Weren't there reports of cruise missiles flying off course? I believe they shot some down that had 'deviated' from plan. Presumably this risk is less now because planes aren't carrying nukes, but you can't help wondering if the US missile command and control systems (and those elsewhere, like in Britain) are really as safe and certain as they claim.

I'm sure it's safer now especially now it's missile based and not bombs. Still scary though.

However the main argument for Iran not having them is not that they wouldn't be safe but that they want to wipe Israel off the map.

What and commit suicide? The Russians would probably help us nuke Iran lol...

They are pretty crazy!

They could put all sorts of spins on it. Maybe Islamic terrorists steal the weapons and attack Israel? Iran would be innocent?

Makes you wonder. Weren't there reports of cruise missiles flying off course? I believe they shot some down that had 'deviated' from plan. Presumably this risk is less now because planes aren't carrying nukes, but you can't help wondering if the US missile command and control systems (and those elsewhere, like in Britain) are really as safe and certain as they claim.

To fire a nuke from a Minute-man missile Silo in the US it requires two men to each turn a key, at one point the men in these silos realized that they could be fired by one man if he tied a spoon to the key, he could use this to flick one key whilst turning his own. Making it possible to fire a nuke on his own. The US claims to have fixed it but allegedly they haven't.

Nukes at an RAF base were once kept safe by a bike lock and could be armed with an allen key

Technically a UK sub commander could fire a nuke on his own authority, the Royal Navy believes so firmly in the integrity of it's captains they don't tend to worry too much about this.

The Russians once almost fired their nukes because someone mistook a flock of Geese on radar for an incoming attack.

Feel safe yet?

I'm sure it's safer now especially now it's missile based and not bombs. Still scary though.

However the main argument for Iran not having them is not that they wouldn't be safe but that they want to wipe Israel off the map.

They are pretty crazy!

They could put all sorts of spins on it. Maybe Islamic terrorists steal the weapons and attack Israel? Iran would be innocent?

its something like 5000 missiles to 4000 bombs for the Murican's

I have no idea about Russia but I think they have more bombs less missiles,though they seem to have a lot of funky vehicles that can fire missiles then scoot off (think SCUD but bigger)

On a separate note how ****ing cool do the USAF nuclear jobs look I'd give anything to do something like that.

http://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/missile-and-space-systems-electronic-maintenance/

http://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/nuclear-weapons/