Turkey ‘effectively holding 50 US nuclear bombs hostage’ at air base amid Syria invasion

[Luna1968]

Look at Incirlik on satalite and tell me that an undetected trained force wouldn't be able to punch through the secure area perimeter and capture at least several of the aircraft enclosures before anybody really knew what was happening. Used to be that the nukes were kept in a series of bunkers way out on the NE of the airfield until a security audit got done and they realized they were even more vulnerable out there. I mean we can't keep nuns out of Y-12 in America so I think any assumptions about good security is and how fast it would respond to an incursion should be open to question.

the problem is, they would be detected and dealt with long before they got "inside the wire"

 

[Luna1968]

Look at Incirlik on satalite and tell me that an undetected trained force wouldn't be able to punch through the secure area perimeter and capture at least several of the aircraft enclosures before anybody really knew what was happening. Used to be that the nukes were kept in a series of bunkers way out on the NE of the airfield until a security audit got done and they realized they were even more vulnerable out there. I mean we can't keep nuns out of Y-12 in America so I think any assumptions about good security is and how fast it would respond to an incursion should be open to question.

Incirlik has had nukes for a long time. The problem is that the bad guys would be detected long before they got inside the wire.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I worked in the nuclear weapons field for 20 years. There are contingency plans for the security of nuclear weapons. Believe it or not, doesn't matter to me. I guess you could just go along with a click bait article and trust that.

I also worked around nuclear materials and was on a military police national deployment team and every time there was a threat to a nuclear site we'd go on standby to deploy. I don't miss the 30 minute recall and 2 hour deployment requirements we had.

 

[K1052]

I worked in the nuclear weapons field for 20 years. There are contingency plans for the security of nuclear weapons. Believe it or not, doesn't matter to me. I guess you could just go along with a click bait article and trust that.

Actually this article isn't what informs my concerns about Incilrik. I first read about the issue probably a decade ago.

 

[K1052]

the problem is, they would be detected and dealt with long before they got "inside the wire"

The government couldn't keep an octogenarian nun "outside the wire" of Y-12's uranium vault in TENNESSEE.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I disagree.
A trained destruction team could take them out a lot faster than you would think. A shaped charge as small as your fist a length of det cord, a timed fuse and an initiator.

Boom, No more nuclear bombs.

Easier still

"The B61 also features a "command disable" mechanism, which functions as follows: after entering the correct 3-digit numeric code it is then possible to turn a dial to "DI" and pull back a T-shaped handle which comes away in the user's hand. This action releases a spring-loaded firing pin which fires the percussion cap on an MC4246A thermal battery, powering it up. Electrical power from the thermal battery is sufficient to "fry" the internal circuitry of the bomb, destroying critical mechanisms without causing detonation. This makes the bomb incapable of being used. "

Edit- Another option that can be used now is to remove the physics package and leave the B61s otherwise intact so no one knows these are useless while safeguarding nuclear material.

 

[Zorba]

Easier still

"The B61 also features a "command disable" mechanism, which functions as follows: after entering the correct 3-digit numeric code it is then possible to turn a dial to "DI" and pull back a T-shaped handle which comes away in the user's hand. This action releases a spring-loaded firing pin which fires the percussion cap on an MC4246A thermal battery, powering it up. Electrical power from the thermal battery is sufficient to "fry" the internal circuitry of the bomb, destroying critical mechanisms without causing detonation. This makes the bomb incapable of being used. "

Edit- Another option that can be used now is to remove the physics package and leave the B61s otherwise intact so no one knows these are useless while safeguarding nuclear material.

I'd think that would still allow someone to reverse engineer the implosion mechanism.

If in some fantasy world the Turks got to the bunkers before we had blown them up like @pcgeek11 said, I'm pretty sure there would be Tomahawks falling on those bunkers with in an hour.

The likelihood of Turkey making any attempt to get our nukes is probably way less than 1% since they would know this would bring the full might of the US down on them.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Do like we do the abandoned bases in Syria, Blow them up in place.

 

[pcgeek11]

The government couldn't keep an octogenarian nun "outside the wire" of Y-12's uranium vault in TENNESSEE.

Fugin Contractors...

 

[Jhhnn]

So you don’t understand how poor foreign policy decisions by the president has placed our nuclear weapons at greater risk than they were two months ago or during the Obama administration?

I don't believe that for a second. The Turks have no malice towards us. That's why they refrained from attacking the Kurds so long as we were with them. The notion that they would have done so while we were still there is nonsensical.

 

[Paratus]

I don't believe that for a second. The Turks have no malice towards us. That's why they refrained from attacking the Kurds so long as we were with them. The notion that they would have done so while we were still there is nonsensical.

He got in a pissing match with Turkey. Told them they could invade then back pedaled and told them he would destroy their economy if they went too far.

That increases the risk to our military presence and warheads in Turkey. Although like you I think the risk increase is small and won’t amount to anything for a number of reasons.

That being said, the impact to our military presence and our weapons should have been discussed as part of the foreign policy change BEFORE that change was made. Instead he reported shot from the hip because he was irritated by the phone call with Erdogan.

Ironically if Flynn was still the National Security Director he could have helped with this since he was a payed “consultant “ to Turkey.

 

[Jhhnn]

He got in a pissing match with Turkey. Told them they could invade then back pedaled and told them he would destroy their economy if they went too far.

That increases the risk to our military presence and warheads in Turkey. Although like you I think the risk increase is small and won’t amount to anything for a number of reasons.

That being said, the impact to our military presence and our weapons should have been discussed as part of the foreign policy change BEFORE that change was made. Instead he reported shot from the hip because he was irritated by the phone call with Erdogan.

Ironically if Flynn was still the National Security Director he could have helped with this since he was a payed “consultant “ to Turkey.

Like I said, Erdogan is getting played. Syrian & Russian troops have moved in with the Kurds, so if Erdogan wants his buffer zone he'll have to escalate bigly to have it, but none of his western allies will go along with him. He's screwed. Meanwhile, Assad has regained control of eastern Syria w/o firing a shot so far. He also gained an American trained fighting force & all their equipment, plus what we left behind when we bugged out.

If it's not hookers & blow in Moscow & Damascus, it should be.