World War Two Research Assignment: Broken Arrow Accidents (Essay Sample)

Broken Arrow (Nuclear Accident)
Name:
Institution’s Name:
Date:
Broken Arrow
Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction designed to completely wipe out their target. They are very much valued and protected weapons used for deterrent measures. The United States was the first country to develop and use nuclear weapons that were used on Japan during World War Two. However, as much as these weapons have never been used since then, there have been 32 nuclear accidents since 1950 known as “Broken Arrows”. The phrase is a US military terminology that refers an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result to accidental firing, launching, detonation, loss or theft of the weapon (Maggelet & Oskins, 2010). For instance, on April 11, 1950, B-29 bomber from the US Air Force crashed into a mountain close to Manzano base shortly after departure from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The bomber had thirteen crew members on board who died in the crash. The nuclear weapon did not detonate as its core was not in place as a safety measure. However, upon contact with the burning jet fuel, the weapon’s high explosives ignited (Maggelet & Oskins, 2010). The military carried out a recovery mission and recovered all the nuclear weapons including four detonators that were on board the bomber. This paper seeks to explore where the term broken arrow was derived from, and the criteria for falling in the category of broken. Similarly, the paper will highlight actual broken arrow incidents.
There are only six nuclear weapons that have been lost and never recovered to date classified as broken arrow. One of these broken arrow accidents where a nuclear weapon was never recovered was during the Vietnam War in 1965. A nuclear bomb slid off and disappeared in the Pacific Ocean from the Ticonderoga aircraft carrier. Another accident happened in 1968 when the Scorpion Submarine sank off the coast of Azores with ninety-nine torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes were nuclear-tipped (History.com, 2017). The loss of a nuclear weapon is very dangerous because the weapons can land in the wrong hands like terrorists who might use the weapons for their own selfish interests that can start a nuclear war.
The US military has a classification for nuclear weapons accident. A nuclear accident falls in the category of broken arrow because it does not lead to the risk of war. Nuclear weapons are safeguarded to stop the enemy from engaging in war or maintaining peace in the world. However, accidental nuclear accidents can lead to war. Nevertheless, a broken arrow does not lead to any arms engagement. On the contrary, there are nuclear accidents that can ignite a nuclear war. One of these accidents is classified as a Nucflash. A Nucflash refers to the detonation or possible detonation of a nuclear warhead that highly increases the risk of a nuclear war (Niezing, 1980). A nucflash involves an unauthorized and accidental circumstance which involves firing of a nuclear weapon. Moreover, the military also classifies a nucflash as an event in which a nuclear weapon with the intensity to penetrate into a nuclear capable country deviates to the unapproved flight plan (Maggelet & Oskins, 2010).
The Cold War was the center of the arms race between the US and the USSR. The hostility between the two countries was very critical as retaliations would have been nuclear in nature. Broken arrow accidents risks were very high during the Cold War when bombers armed with thermonuclear weapons were on patrol around th...