ACC sets new date for inspection of Minot wing

[unhappycamper]

ACC sets new date for inspection of Minot wing
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 21:40:10 EST

Air Combat Command officials have set a new date for inspectors to converge on Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and inspect the 5th Bomb Wing, which lost its certification to handle nuclear weapons last summer after the wing lost track of six nuclear warheads and mistakenly flew them to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

The 5th Bomb Wing is scheduled to receive the Nuclear Surety Inspection the third week of May, said Tech. Sgt. Marelise Wood, a Minot spokeswoman. If it passes, the wing will again be allowed to maintain its nuclear stockpile. Since the accident, airmen from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale have been stationed at Minot to execute the 5th’s maintenance duties.

Earlier this winter, Col. Joel Westa, who assumed command of the 5th Bomb Wing after his predecessor was fired, postponed the NSI — which had been planned for Jan. 23 — because of the wing’s poor performance during its Initial Nuclear Surety Inspection just weeks before.

Westa said the wing needed to fill key senior NCO billets and do more training before he was confident the wing could pass the NSI, which he described as the “the most scrutinized inspection in the history of time.”

“The key piece that is driving all this is the flow of information was slow to come after the investigation and caused us some time that we were unable to train, and there were some key billets that weren’t changed,” he said in January.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/02/airforce_nnot_nsi_022608w/