341st Missile Wing passes nuke inspection

[unhappycamper]

'Satisfactory'
November results prompted re-examination


341st Missile Wing passes nuke inspection
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 10, 2009 15:22:02 EST

There months after failing a nuclear surety inspection, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., passed a reinspection.

Air Force Space Command inspectors returned to Malmstrom with oversight from Air Force Inspection Agency and U.S. Strategic Command officials to ensure errors found during the NSI held in November had been fixed. Inspectors had found problems with the wing’s Maintenance Group and its personnel reliability program, which monitors who can work with nuclear weapons, an Air Force official said.

The wing was one of five nuclear units known to fail an NSI in 2008. It’s only the fourth time since 1992 that five nuclear units have failed their NSI, according to a report by the Task Force on DoD Nuclear Weapons Management. The Air Force had zero failures in 2006 and 2007, according to the report.

Col. Scott Gilson, AFSPC Inspector General, acknowledged that the NSIs have been harder to pass the past 12 months than in previous years.

“This year, we’ve made a tough test even more challenging by increasing intensity, depth and rigor of inspections, and by directing the IG teams to focus on more consistent application of stringent nuclear standards,” he said in a press release.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_passed_nuke_inspection_021009w/%2e