This Is How They Load Nuclear Cruise Missiles On A B-52 Stratofortress

This Is How They Load Nuclear Cruise Missiles On A B-52 Stratofortress

When I first saw this photo I immediately thought “what the hell is thing?” Then Attila Nagy told me about it: it’s a nuclear armed AGM-86B cruise missile. Three of them, in fact, being loaded on a B-52 Stratofortress.

It’s hard to tell because you are looking at the butt of this 1.3-tonne nuclear shark, which is 6.3 metres long and has a wingspan of 3.7 metres.

The image was just taken at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota during “a large-scale inspection for all base operations”. You will be happy to know that “for the Nuclear Surety Inspection portion, the 91st Missile Wing and the 5th Bomb Wing received a rating of satisfactory. The 91st MW completed the Nuclear Operations Readiness Inspection with an excellent rating.”

This Is How They Load Nuclear Cruise Missiles On A B-52 Stratofortress


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.