Air Force loses explosives on N. Dakota road

The Air Force is offering $5,000 for leads on the whereabouts of a box of explosive grenade rounds that its personnel accidentally dropped on a road in North Dakota while traveling between two intercontinental ballistic missile silos — the facilities scattered across the U.S. heartland that stand ready to launch nuclear warheads at a moment’s notice.

Airmen from the 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team were traveling on gravel roads May 1 in North Dakota when the back hatch of their vehicle opened and a container filled with the explosive ammunition fell out, according to a statement from Minot Air Force Base.

On May 11, the Air Force sent more than 100 airmen to walk the six-mile route where the grenades were probably lost, according to a statement from the Mountrail County sheriff. But two weeks after it was lost, the box of explosives still hasn’t been found.

The missing ordnance is a belt of linked grenades for the MK 19 automatic grenade launcher, Sheriff Kenneth Halvorson said in the statement shared with the

Washington Post. “This ammunition is specific to that launcher and will not operate in any other launching device without catastrophic failure,” he said.

According to the statement from the sheriff, individuals living in the area were contacted and asked to keep an eye out for any explosives that have turned up on their property.

The security forces of the 91st Missile Wing are responsible for protecting the intercontinental ballistic missile silos.

The weapons are manned by specially trained airmen known as missileers, who sit in the underground silos in the middle of North Dakota fields 24 hours a day and wait for an order from the president to launch.

The Air Force said it does not consider the incident a criminal matter and is seeking public assistance in ensuring the safe return of the explosives.