Talk:United States military nuclear incident terminology

ROGUE SPEAR / EMPTY QUIVER
The Rogue Spear article says that the weapons weren't seized, lost, or stolen, but instead independently manufactured. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.4.90.4 (talk) 23:40, 4 February 2007 (UTC).

The movie Broken Arrow: Pinnacle/Broken Arrow or Pinnacle/Nucflash?
The article used to say that the movie Broken Arrow involves a Pinnacle Empty Quiver, and later a Pinnacle/Nucflash event, rather than a Pinnacle/Broken Arrow. I changed this to the add that the characters in the film initially believe that a Broken Arrow has occurred. The article asserts that the actual detonation is a Nucflash because it is unauthorized.

A later edit asserts that this detonation was a Broken Arrow, because it was a detonation. I don't think this is consistent with the definitions in the article; the salient feature of a Broken Arrow according to the given definition seems to be that it is an accident, but the events in the movie are all intentional. I deleted both that assertion, because I think the Broken Arrow assertion directly contradicts the article's definition of an accidental event, making things less consistent (contrary to the edit summary that says it is for consistency), and I deleted the Nucflash assertion because it is not self-evident from the article's definitions.

Maybe the trivia should just say that the movie was named for the nuclear incident term and leave it at that.

Any other thoughts? --Capn ed 20:39, 15 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure if the detonation in Broken Arrow constitutes a Pinnacle/NUCFLASH or Pinnacle/Broken Arrow event, since the definitions of both terms emphasize the immediate threat of nuclear war. In this case, the warhead is stolen from the Americans by an American and detonated on American soil, with no immediate evidence supporting any form of outside involvement whatsoever, and with U.S. authorities already aware of the theft at the time of the detonation. This would appear to fall under the Pinnacle/Bent Spear definition (admittedly taking the definition of "violations or breaches of handling and security regulations" to the extreme). 3.14 (talk) 01:24, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

list of broken arrows

 * hey i think we need a list of known broken arrow incidents. The people need to know. I know of one, flight 44-92075 over canada, maybe we can add some more? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.189.120.253 (talk) 03:56, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I would agree that people need to know: Need to cite references. Bomarc (talk) 17:27, 24 November 2014 (UTC)
 * As the term Broken Arrow is from US; do non-US incidents count? (not knowing details of 44-92075) Bomarc (talk) 17:27, 24 November 2014 (UTC)
 * There is a Bomarc incident - Broken Arrow not listed here. The incident occurred on Ft. Dix  with numerous external references.  According to the definition for Broken Arrow: this indecent fits.  Pending more discussion on the topic -- I will be looking to add the reference. Bomarc (talk) 17:27, 24 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Hey all! I edited this section in order to add mention of the hundreds of "unofficial" Broken Arrow incidents and accidents that occurred up to 1968 and to add a link to a pdf copy of the subsequently declassified report titled "Accidents and Incidents Involving Nuclear Weapons" published in 1968 by the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) which details these events. I recently learned of the existence of this report by watching a PBS American Experience documentary about, "...the long-hidden story of a deadly accident at a Titan II missile complex in Damascus, Arkansas in 1980," titled "Command and Control". The film can be streamed for free here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/command-and-control/#part01 should anyone be interested in watching it. Gruster (talk) 21:35, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

Bent Spear....
The 2007 incident has not been deemed a Bent Spear by the Air Force

http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2008/02/nuclear_safety_and_the_saga_ab.php#more-193

"But when I asked Air Combat Command (ACC) for a list of all Bent Spear and Dull Sword incidents since June 1992 when ACC took command of Air Force nuclear weapons, the list included plenty of Dull Sword incidents but not a single Bent Spear. Three months of phone calls and emails to the Air Force for an explanation for the omission have gone unanswered. While writing down my question and contact information, however, one officer volunteered off the record that “they” hadn’t given the Minot incident a formal designation because they didn’t quite know what to call it." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.254.92.29 (talk) 07:21, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Meteorite impacts...
How would the US Military classify a nuclear scale blast arising from a naturally occuring impact or atmospheric breakup of an extraterrestrial bolide? The explosive force of a Diablo Canyon or Tunguska Blast event occuring without prior observation of the impactor would be indistinguishable from a nuclear weapon until samples or readings from the blast site could confirm or deny the presence of thermonuclear daughter isotopes. That period of not knowing would be as tense as any Pinnacle - Broken Arrow, especially if there is absolutely no warning and no linkable political or tactical situations leading up to it. 166.137.133.162 (talk) 01:17, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The lack of an electromagnetic pulse and certain types of radiation, and the two-spike seismic signature caused by a hydrogen bomb would be a dead giveaway, if I'm not mistaken. Spy satellites would see it, no mushroom cloud. Maybe alot of civilians and small nations would think it was a nuke for a while, but NORAD and the equivalent of other large nations will know almost immediately --66.190.9.254 (talk) 19:17, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Recent event
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/10/10/power-failure-shuts-down-sqaudron-of-icbms/65207/

Should this be added to the article? This would be under "Broken Arrow" wouldn't it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.190.9.254 (talk) 19:06, 27 October 2010 (UTC)
 * That would be a blunt sword. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.254.1.159 (talk) 02:37, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Dull sword. Whoop whoop pull up Bitching Betty 21:11, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Nuclear attack

 * What is the code used to report a confirmed nuclear attack? Whoop whoop pull up Bitching Betty 21:15, 3 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Interesting question (from over 8 years ago). Have you tried Googling it? I did, no certain result. If that happens, what's it called may be a moot point, or of little concern, under the circumstances. ☹️ 'NUCFLASH' would likely be part of it, "NUCFLASH - KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE", or even more cryptic, "NUCFLASH - KYAG", maybe?
 * According to this "PINNACLE - NUCFLASH" may be more accurate?? I'd speculate that information about location of 'incident' and it's origin would be appended, if possible.
 * "PINNACLE - NUCFLASH - NEW_YORK - UNKNOWN"
 * Maybe? 220  of  ßorg 14:01, 17 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Found this
 * "''Department of Defense: DIRECTIVE, NUMBER 5230.16, December 20, 1993, Certified Current as of November 21, 2003, SUBJECT: Nuclear Accident and Incident Public Affairs (PA) Guidance"
 * by Googling "nucdet" ( I think?). Some of these terms are likely classified secret so not publicly available nor acknowledged as existing. 220  of  ßorg 15:38, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Date of Origin of Broken Arrow?
When did the term "Broken Arrow" become official? I see some incidents going back to the 1950's being called "Broken Arrows" but when did the military adopt the term? Stan Brewer (talk) 21:47, 15 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Good question; unfortunately, the reference is a broken link: "DoD Directive 5230.16, "Nuclear Accident and Incident Public Affairs (PA) Guidance", 12/20/1993" ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 20:10, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

I was an Air Operations Specialist who worked Base Operations at a USAF base in Europe from 1961-64 and I encountered the term Broken Arrow during some command inspections. These generally started off with an incoming flight declaring a Broken Arrow emergency or an emergency with a cargo of ammunition. I always took these to be simulated as we were dealing with cargo aircraft. 2601:18D:8A01:2CA0:5851:89B5:EE32:5C85 (talk) 05:12, 26 January 2017 (UTC)co