Glitch knocks 50 US nuclear missiles offline

A computer glitch took 50 US nuclear inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) offline for 45 minutes Saturday, AFP quoted a Pentagon official as saying Wednesday.

The problem was apparently a hardware malfunction, said the official, an Air Force officer with knowledge of the event who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Air Force Global Strike Command has 450 Minutemen III ICBMs in bases located in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

Of these, there was a "communication disruption" in which the Air Force lost communication with 50 ICBMs located at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

On Tuesday, investigators discovered that similar incidents had happened at other sites more than a decade ago.

"It looks to be a mechanical problem with a particular part," the officer said. "As soon as it happened, there was a security check of every missile site" by video camera and in person, "and there was no apparent damage to any equipment."

"We have no indication of any malicious or intentional activity that would have caused this - it looks to be mechanical," the officer said.

US President Barack Obama was briefed about the event early Tuesday, CBS News reported.

AFP