It’s very hard to believe, but in 2006, the U.S. Air Force mistakenly shipped four fuses designed to trigger Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles to Taiwan.

From what I gathered from various stories, the fuses initially came from F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming and then were sent to Hill AFB, Utah, in 2005. The fuses were encased in Minuteman III nose cones (which I would think kind of makes them hard to miss). Instead of placing them in a secure location, the personnel at Hill AFB placed them in an unclassified storage area, where they stayed for more than a year. Then they were shipped to Taiwan. Initially the Taiwanese thought they were parts for helicopter batteries, but then contacted authorities in the United States when it was discovered they were not. After some indecision on what to have the Taiwanese do with the fuses, they were turned over to U.S. authorities. Supposedly they are secure now.

China was not amused when they first learned about this problem.

This problem comes on the heels of the incident last year where a B-52 with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles was flown from Minot AFB in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. Nobody noticed…for awhile, either.

The U.S. Air Force has an inventory problem. These fuses should have been accounted for several times during the year or so they were “missing.” After the cruise missile problem, heads rolled. I would imagine even more severe punishment will be handed down when the investigation is completed into this embarrassment.

It makes this Air Force veteran wonder what else is missing that we may not hear about for a couple of years.