US nukes at Turkey base at risk of seizure: report - Polidicks

[quote]Dozens of US nuclear weapons stored at a Turkish air base near Syria are at risk of being captured by "terrorists or other hostile forces," a Washington think tank claimed Monday. Critics have long been alarmed by America's estimated stockpile of about 50 nuclear bombs at Incirlik in southern Turkey, just 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the border with war-torn Syria. The issue took on fresh urgency last month following the attempted coup in Turkey, in which the base's Turkish commander was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the plot. "Whether the US could have maintained control of the weapons in the event of a protracted civil conflict in Turkey is an unanswerable question," said Monday's report from the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank working to promote peace. Incirlik is a vital base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, with the strategically located facility affording drones and warplanes fast access to IS targets. But the Pentagon in March ordered families of US troops and civilian personnel stationed in southern Turkey to quit the region due to security fears. "From a security point of view, it's a roll of the dice to continue to have approximately 50 of America's nuclear weapons stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey," report co-author Laicie Heeley said. "There are significant safeguards in place. ... But safeguards are just that, they don't eliminate risk. In the event of a coup, we can't say for certain that we would have been able to maintain control," she told AFP.[/quote] [url]http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-nukes-at-turkey-base-at-risk-of-seizure-report/ar-BBvCZFS?li=BBmkt5R[/url] [url=http://www.stimson.org/content/b61-life-extension-program-costs-and-policy-considerations]Report[/url]

Wouldn't surprise me if they already removed them and just kept it under wraps

Shit just got real. I didn't actually think there would actually be a real risk of losing these nukes. That's actually scary.

[QUOTE=Intoxicated Spy;50890040]Wouldn't surprise me if they already removed them and just kept it under wraps[/QUOTE] after the coup I wouldnt be surprised if there just "there" on paper atm

[quote]America's estimated stockpile of about 50 nuclear bombs at Incirlik in southern Turkey, just 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the border with war-torn Syria.[/quote] :speechless:

why the fuck are there FIFTY nukes over there wtf

[QUOTE=Rowtree;50890126]:speechless:[/QUOTE] isis aint gonna just be able to walk up and take them if thats what you think

I will point out as the article states that they are effectively useless without US launch codes. It would still be terrifying for them to fall into terrorist hands, or worse: a nation with some nuclear capacity that could be potentially hostile.

they've been there for a good while iirc

[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;50890159]I will point out as the article states that they are effectively useless without US launch codes. It would still be terrifying for them to fall into terrorist hands, or worse: a nation with some nuclear capacity that could be potentially hostile.[/QUOTE] There are unfortunately quite a few other ways to use a nuke beyond launching it as intended.

[QUOTE=Marzipas;50890154]why the fuck are there FIFTY nukes over there wtf[/QUOTE] Cold war, used as a deterrent to keep Russia from doing anything funky, though that point becomes moot when the host country decides that logic is too much of a burden to carry.

[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;50890159]I will point out as the article states that they are effectively useless without US launch codes. It would still be terrifying for them to fall into terrorist hands, or worse: a nation with some nuclear capacity that could be potentially hostile.[/QUOTE] Would they be able to do dumb shit like disassembling them, or blowing them up by force? I have no clue but even without launch codes...the thought of motherfucking ISIS to have nukes...and that many too. Not cool. I mean sure, black market and all. If they really wanted to I'm sure they could get a hot nuke themselves.

[QUOTE=Chi_DE;50890184]Would they be able to do dumb shit like disassembling them, or blowing them up by force? I have no clue but even without launch codes...the thought of motherfucking ISIS to have nukes...and that many too. Not cool. I mean sure, black market and all. If they really wanted to I'm sure they could get a hot nuke themselves.[/QUOTE] You can't blow up a nuke by force. You have to set off the reaction. It's like C4. You can burn C4 as if it's paper, but it won't explode.

[QUOTE=joost1120;50890211]You can't blow up a nuke by force. You have to set off the reaction. It's like C4. You can burn C4 as if it's paper, but it won't explode.[/QUOTE] Oooh. Roger that. :smile:

[QUOTE=Chi_DE;50890226]Oooh. Roger that. :smile:[/QUOTE] and to set it off by reaction is pretty precise stuff, iirc

I'm sure the plutonium core could be mated to a different detonator

[QUOTE=Rowtree;50890126]:speechless:[/QUOTE] wouldn't be the worst place we've stored nuclear weapons at [editline]15th August 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Grenadiac;50890231]I'm sure the plutonium core could be mated to a different detonator[/QUOTE] good luck dismantling a sealed [I]nuclear weapon[/I] and then building [I]another nuclear weapon[/I] using the parts

They have Top Men i'm sure

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;50890231]I'm sure the plutonium core could be mated to a different detonator[/QUOTE] I'm almost certain that there's a special procedure to opening them up, otherwise the explosive implosion charges will be deliberately detonated out of sync to destroy the warhead and everyone standing nearby. There's no need to worry about assholes reverse engineering them or extracting the bomb core. Even if the reaction isn't 100% initiated, popping the charges slightly out of sync will still cause a neutron burst that will kill anyone that the initial blast doesn't. In short, prodding with a screwdriver will irradiate the entire block you're in and reduce you to a fine glowing meat paste.

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;50890251]They have Top Men i'm sure[/QUOTE] any weapon we use today is most likely a fission boosted warhead, meaning you have 2 nuclear bombs fitted inside each other and sealed pit implosion bombs don't have enough nuclear material to go supercritical on their own even if they were remilled (somehow) into a gun type bomb

[QUOTE=Sableye;50890277]any weapon we use today is most likely a fission boosted warhead, meaning you have 2 nuclear bombs fitted inside each other and sealed pit implosion bombs don't have enough nuclear material to go supercritical on their own even if they were remilled (somehow) into a gun type bomb[/QUOTE] [I]top... men[/I] nah you know more than I do about this stuff clearly so I'll take your word on it, just kind of scary to think those things could end up in the hands of the bad guys

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;50890299][I]top... men[/I] nah you know more than I do about this stuff clearly so I'll take your word on it, just kind of scary to think those things could end up in the hands of the bad guys[/QUOTE] dude plutonium itself is an increadibly hard metal to work with just by leaked testimony over the years, you can't just stick a bomb core on a lathe and turn it into a functioning gun-type bomb even if you had a large enough chunk of plutonium to do so, otherwise just detonating a casing stuffed with plutonium will spread radioactive dust but it honestly won't be any worse than the couple of times actual nuclear bombs have detonated and spread their cores either

[QUOTE=zombini;50890264]I'm almost certain that there's a special procedure to opening them up, otherwise the explosive implosion charges will be deliberately detonated out of sync to destroy the warhead and everyone standing nearby. There's no need to worry about assholes reverse engineering them or extracting the bomb core. Even if the reaction isn't 100% initiated, popping the charges slightly out of sync will still cause a neutron burst that will kill anyone that the initial blast doesn't. In short, prodding with a screwdriver will irradiate the entire block you're in and reduce you to a fine glowing meat paste.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sableye;50890277]any weapon we use today is most likely a fission boosted warhead, meaning you have 2 nuclear bombs fitted inside each other and sealed pit implosion bombs don't have enough nuclear material to go supercritical on their own even if they were remilled (somehow) into a gun type bomb[/QUOTE] That's good to hear. The aftermath would still be really ugly in either case, but at least it would be reasonably difficult to cause a lot of damage with it.

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;50890320]"in events of protracted civil conflict in Turkey" In other news, American missile silos under risk of meteorite hits. "A dice throw" to keep them on the surface, a Washington think tank concludes. The report is about maintatining nukes in Europe in general. Talks about breaches in Belgium too, hello? Not hypotethical scenarios, events that happened? [B]Why is everybody's focus on Turkey? [/B] [/QUOTE] mainly because news from turkey is generally hard to sift through in the west these days. You're totally right though, there's been better opportunities to steal nuclear weapons before, the idea that ISIS or some new militia group in turkey could fight their way through [I]the[/I] US military base in turkey and capture those weapons and transport them away and hold onto them and reverse engineer them to be workable without the entire US military rolling in on them is as possible as wyoming's minuteman silos being hit by a flood and meteor at the same time

[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;50890159]I will point out as the article states that they are effectively useless without US launch codes. It would still be terrifying for them to fall into terrorist hands, or worse: a nation with some nuclear capacity that could be potentially hostile.[/QUOTE] They are B61 gravity dropped bombs. So it might be a bit easier to reverse engineer them to go boom. The tin cans in question: [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/B-61_bomb.jpg[/img]

1.) this is old news. articles about "risk of seizure" of our TNWs in Turkey are a time a dozen. 2.) the nukes are there because of NATO nuclear sharing. withdrawal of them would complicate an already perilous situation between the US and one of our most important NATO allies - Turkey. that being said, its true that the nukes serve little to no strategic function anymore bc we arent in the cold war anymore and TNWs are irrelevant.

[QUOTE=Flameon;50890518]one of our most important NATO allies - Turkey.[/QUOTE] I fail to see why this is the case anymore. I hope they're already removed, and if Turkey wants to get upset about that they can exit NATO.

[QUOTE=1/4 Life;50890555]I fail to see why this is the case anymore. I hope they're already removed, and if Turkey wants to get upset about that they can exit NATO.[/QUOTE] because the US has strategic interests in the Middle East and they let us use Incirlik Air Base as a result of being allies

[QUOTE=Flameon;50890581]because the US has strategic interests in the Middle East and they let us use Incirlik Air Base as a result of being allies[/QUOTE] Israel is a country that exists. Why is Turkey, a country undergoing coups staged by their own government while bickering with Russia and helping ISIS, important to us?

[QUOTE=1/4 Life;50890583]Israel is a country that exists. Why is Turkey, a country undergoing coups staged by their own government while bickering with Russia and helping ISIS, important to us?[/QUOTE] idk israel hasn't given us an airbase we can use. they also aren't in NATO and I dont think they have plans to join? the us also hates russia so turkey bickering with them is a plus if anything lol