Two KF-16’s Mistakenly Bombs Village Outside Training Range

UPDATE #1: It is now being reported that not one, but two KF-16’s mistakenly bombed the village. I am not a fighter pilot, but how does something like this happen?:

Several people were injured Thursday in Pocheon city after two South Korean fighter jets accidentally released eight live bombs outside a practice range, according to South Korea’s air force. The MK-82 bombs were “abnormally” dropped at 10:04 a.m. Thursday beyond an unspecified live-fire range by a pair of KF-16 fighters, according to an air force statement to reporters that day. Each jet dropped four bombs, according to the air force. The bombs were not practice rounds, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by phone Thursday. The MK-82 is a 500-pound, 7-foot-long free-fall bomb also employed by the U.S. military. The KF-16 is the South Korean air force’s variant of the U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. At least 15 people, including area residents, were injured in the incident, Yonhap News reported Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

Original Posting: This a huge mistake that hopefully will not have repercussions on USFK’s continued use of Rodriguez Range as a live fire location:

An Air Force fighter jet on Thursday misdropped eight bombs outside a training range during live-fire drills, injuring civilians in the area, officials said.

The KF-16 fighter jet taking part in a live-fire exercise “abnormally” released eight MK-82 bombs outside the training range in Pocheon, 42 kilometers northeast of Seoul, at 10:04 a.m.

The Air Force said it is conducting an investigation into the accident and apologized for the damage to civilians.

(Korea Times)

You can read more at the link, but locals have complained about live fire training at Rodriguez Range near Pocheon. It will be interesting to see what caused this horrible accident because I have never heard of something like this ever happening before.