[infowar.de] UPI 30.10.02: Errors plagued US missile computer

[Georg Schoefbaenker <schoefbaenker -! - aon - at>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
-------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021030-025241-6514r

Report: Errors plagued US missile compute

 From the National Desk
Published 10/30/2002 3:08 PM

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The accuracy of the readiness status of 
the United States' nuclear missile fleet was called into question last year 
after an Air Force audit found that the computer that keeps track of a wide 
range of critical parts and components was riddled with erroneous data, the 
Deseret News reported Wednesday.

The Air Force Audit Agency said in a report dated Oct. 25, 2001 that 
several hundred incorrect entries -- which have since been remedied -- were 
discovered in a computer system designed to give commanders an accurate and 
up-to-date picture of the status of the nation's intercontinental ballistic 
missiles.

The report, which was obtained by the Deseret News under the Freedom of 
Information Act, described a check of three ICBM bases in which they 
attempted to reconcile the computer's 2,863 inventory records with the 
actual parts and found that 991 had discrepancies.

"The erroneous data included: (a) duplicate, missing, and incorrect serial 
numbers; (b) missing and incorrect part numbers; (c) missing data asset 
records; (d) incorrect equipment quantities; (e) incorrect equipment 
locations; and (f) incorrect or missing equipment manufacture and 
installation dates," the report said.

Specific problems included the discovery that 10 silos at Minot Air Force 
Base in North Dakota did not have enough batteries on hand to successfully 
launch their missiles, and incorrect installation dates on 200 rocket 
boosters at both Malstrom Air Force Base in Tennessee and Warren Air Force 
Base in Wyoming.

The audit concluded the problems stemmed in a large part from inadequate 
training in the entering and monitoring of the inventory data on the part 
of the Air Force Space Command and the Air Logistics Center at Hill Air 
Force Base in Ogden, Utah.

"For example, training at Minot Air Force Base was a brief overview of the 
system (lasting approximately 30 minutes) combined with an on-the-job 
practice session," the report said. "Additionally, Space Command personnel 
did not have adequate oversight procedures to ensure maintenance procedures 
to ensure maintenance personnel accurately maintained that data."

Space Command and the Air Logistics Center have since agreed to establish a 
standardized training program for the computer system and develop an 
oversight system.



---------------------------------------------------------------
Liste verlassen: 
Mail an infowar -
 de-request -!
- infopeace -
 de mit "unsubscribe" im Text.