U.S. Fighter Jet Bombs Australia Building

[__Kratos__]

DARWIN, Australia - A U.S. Marine Corps fighter jet missed its bombing target and dropped a bomb near a tower at a military range in remote northern Australia, damaging the building and igniting a gas cylinder, officials said Friday.

The bomb, dropped by an F/A-18 Hornet, exploded near the control tower and damaged facilities at the Delamere Air Weapons Range in the Northern Territory on Wednesday, Australia's Defense Department said.

Lt. Col. Jeff Blau, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Forces Pacific, based at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, said the bomb also ignited a gas cylinder nearby. Blau said one minor injury was reported.

"The incident is under investigation to determine the cause," Blau said.

Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said the mishap was under investigation by both Australian and American authorities. Bombing exercises have ceased at the weapons range, some 80 miles south of the town of Katherine.

"Things like this will always happen; we hope not very frequently and we hope not any more dangerously," Prime Minister John Howard told Melbourne Radio 3AW. "But the idea that you can conduct any kind of military exercise without some kind of potential for mishap is unrealistic."

The U.S. Marine contingent, which is based in Japan, was conducting an annual training exercise called Southern Frontier that involves 500 troops, 15 F/A-18 Hornets and two KC-130 Hercules aircraft.

The U.S. Marine Corps said the ordnance was a 500 pound laser-guided bomb, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Source

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Nothing that can't be settled over a Fosters. Sorry mates.

I wonder what went wrong?

[Dr_Strangelove]

Whoops!

[The Silver Thong]

Wait till this happen's over a none friendly nation and we have problem's. One missguided missle over Korea or China. We won't get a chance to say opps sorry. RED ALERT going hot,defcon 3.

Edited August 16, 2005 by The Silver Thong

[Dr_Strangelove]

Wait till this happen's over a none friendly nation and we have problem's. One missguided missle over Korea or China. We won't get a chance to say opps sorry. RED ALERT going hot,defcon 3.

792208[/snapback]

Actually things like this have happened! My dad was a party to such an incident in the late 1950's over the PRC. He was fortunate, his P2V got some small arms fire but nothing more. There have been other incidents that have had fatalities on both sides.

I even know of one incident in the 1970s were a drunk, depressed GI drove a tank into the Berlin Wall. As I recall it didn't threaten to start the Third World War but the Russians and East Germans were not impressed...

[zephyr]

There have been several goofs like that over Iran. The first one was in the 80's when an American warship in the Persian Gulf shut down an Iran Air Airbus headed to Dubai with 150 passengers and crew on board, they had to fish the bodies of women and children out of the sea. The captain of the American ship was given a medal of honor on his return home, no apologies or compensations have been provided to the families of the victims.

The other incidents all involved the misfiring of cruise missiles during various American wars in Iraq. One that landed near Abadan in SW Iran caused a few casualties, again no word of regret from the US military. That's why I sometimes wonder who's more intelligent, the missiles or the people who launch them?

[Dr_Strangelove]

That would have been the USS Vincennes and the date of the incident was July 3rd, 1988. The Captain of the ship at the time was Will C. Rodgers the Third and the number of dead was actually 290. I don't know of Captain Rodgers getting any such medal though. It would be interesting to see if he did get such a medal since most decorations are public knowledge. I do know that a number of decorations wer given out secretly during the Cold War to Air Force and Navy personnel for their intelligence operations involving the Peoples Republic of China and the old Soviet Union.

[Alfaman]

The American air force seems incapable of bombing anything accurately, even when they are practicing. I mean to miss a target and hit a town instead is pretty unbelievable!

[Dr_Strangelove]

The American air force seems incapable of bombing anything accurately, even when they are practicing.  I mean to miss a target and hit a town instead is pretty unbelievable!

792861[/snapback]

Actually our air forces are pretty good in that regard. I can only think of a couple air forces in the world that might be better than ours in bombing precision. Most of the time when you hear about something like this event in Australia its a training accident.

[zephyr]

That would have been the USS Vincennes and the date of the incident was July 3rd, 1988. The Captain of the ship at the time was Will C. Rodgers the Third and the number of dead was actually 290. I don't know of Captain Rodgers getting any such medal though. It would be interesting to see if he did get such a medal since most decorations are public knowledge. I do know that a number of decorations wer given out secretly during the Cold War to Air Force and Navy personnel for their intelligence operations involving the Peoples Republic of China and the old Soviet Union.

792805[/snapback]

Thanks for the exact information on that terrible event, doc. About the captain and his medal, I thought I heard that on the news here, the accuracy of it can be questioned. No apologies and no compensations though.

[aquatus1]

The American air force seems incapable of bombing anything accurately, even when they are practicing.  I mean to miss a target and hit a town instead is pretty unbelievable!

792861[/snapback]

Hit a town?

They were eighty miles away.

Exxagerate much?

[Alfaman]

The American air force seems incapable of bombing anything accurately, even when they are practicing.  I mean to miss a target and hit a town instead is pretty unbelievable!

792861[/snapback]

Hit a town?

They were eighty miles away.

Exxagerate much?

792928[/snapback]

Yes I did mean to say tower not town, my mistake.

[bboy]

The title of the article is a little misleading.

[PadawanOsswe]

note that this was a laser guided bomb. it may have been technical difficulties with the guiding system or somethin.

[Beleiver29]

well....dont do that shi* to china because they are acting like they are on their perioids or somthing.