As of: February 6, 2024, 4:54 a.m
By: Julia Stanton
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The nuclear missile is harmless because there were no explosives attached.
© Screenshot X/ @BvuePD
A man finds a relic from the Cold War and wants to donate it.
Shortly afterwards the police are at the door.
And realizes: It is a nuclear missile.
Bellevue – A man in the United States inherits a Cold War missile from his neighbor.
And then things get tricky.
Because the rocket is not an ordinary rocket, as initially assumed, but a nuclear missile.
But the man had no idea about it at first.
After his discovery, he contacted the Air Force Museum in Ohio to donate the rocket.
The museum informed the police, who suddenly appeared at its door a short time later.
Nuclear missile in shed: Police inspect weapon closely
That was a big surprise for the rocket owner.
"He didn't expect a call from us," a police spokesman told the BBC, explaining that the museum apparently did not warn the man.
Nevertheless, he allowed the bomb disposal squad to examine the weapon.
The result: The missile is a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air missile designed for a nuclear warhead.
This emerges from a police press release.
However, the rocket is not dangerous; the police classify it as an “artifact with no risk of explosion”.
The speaker describes the device as a “gas tank for rocket fuel.”
Because the rocket's tanks were empty and there were no explosives on it, there was never any risk of an explosion.
After unusual discovery: man is allowed to keep nuclear missile
Even if the nuclear missile is harmless, it is an unusual find.
The Bellevue police wrote on platform Weapons worth 1.7 billion US dollars, but they shouldn't be hidden in normal garages.
The Genie missile found is among the first nuclear-equipped air weapons used by the US military during the Cold War.
Their production was suspended in 1962.
The projectile has nothing to do with modern air weapons, which can even ambush the enemy.
Since it was an inactive item that had not been reclaimed by the military, the man was even allowed to keep the rocket.
(jus)