Washington: The US Air Force said on Wednesday that 34 officers responsible for launching the nation's nuclear missiles had been suspended, and their security clearances revoked, for cheating on their monthly proficiency tests.

In a hastily arranged news conference, secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said the officers either knew about or took part in the sharing of answers to a routine monthly proficiency test. Eleven officers have also been implicated in an investigation into illegal drugs, she said, three of them at nuclear command sites in North Dakota and Montana.

Scandal: Air Force chief of staff General Mark Welsh said the cheating was the most extensive he had seen among missile launch officers. Credit:AP

Some of the officers apparently texted each other the answers to the test on their knowledge of how to operate the missiles, the Associated Press reported. Others may have known about it but did not report it.

Although the Air Force has been plagued by scandals in recent years, the new revelations are especially worrisome because they involve the United States' nuclear arsenal and involve officers.