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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says Hill Air Force Base mistakenly shipped Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles but has since recovered them.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says the misshipped items were four electrical fuses for nose cone assemblies for ICBMs. He says they were delivered to Taiwan in 2006 and had been sent instead of helicopter batteries that had been ordered by Taiwan.
The fuses had been in four shipping containers sent in March 2005 from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., to a Defense Logisitics Agency warehouse at Hill Air Force Base, Utah
The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile but contained no nuclear materials.
Wynne says Taiwanese authoritied notified the U.S. about the mistake, but it's not clear when the notification was made.
Air Force officials say the exact sequence of events that led to the mistake and the recovery of the items is unclear.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
