Federal investigators to evaluate Aircraft Monitor and Control system’s nuclear certification

The Defense and Energy Departments’ inspectors general are conducting a joint review of the Aircraft Monitor and Control system’s nuclear certification process, according to a memorandum released today.

AMAC refers to “equipment installed in aircraft to permit nuclear weapon monitoring and control of safing, pre-arming, arming, and fuzing functions on nuclear weapons or nuclear weapon systems,” according to a July 2017 Air Force Instruction on the nuclear certification program.

DOD IG aims to evaluate whether testing done on the AMAC system for aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons meets the Pentagon and DOE’s nuclear certification requirements. Meanwhile, DOE IG will consider the extent of its department’s oversight of the AMAC system testing requirements.

The memorandum was signed by Randolph Stone, assistant IG for evaluations of space, intelligence, engineering and oversight for DOD, and Bruce Miller, assistant IG for audits and inspections for DOE. It was sent to the Air Force secretary and National Nuclear Security Administration deputy administrator for defense programs.

The investigators plan to begin fieldwork this month at various Air Force and NNSA facilities, the notice states. These include Air Force headquarters, NNSA headquarters, the NNSA Albuquerque Complex, Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center, Air Force Safety Center, Air Force Global Strike Command and Sandia National Labs.