A-10 jet accidentally fires rocket northeast of Tucson

Tucson Sentinel ^ | 9/5/2019 | Dylan Smith

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

An A-10 attack jet from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base accidentally fired a white phosphorous rocket in a training area about 60 miles from Tucson on Thursday morning, officials said. No fires or injuries were reported.

The pilot of the A-10C Thunderbolt II "unintentionally released a single M-156 rocket today at approximately 10:40 a.m.," Air Force officials said.

"The rocket impacted in a desert wash in an uninhabited area under the Jackal Military Operations Area, which is located approximately 60 miles northeast of Tucson. This training area is not designated for munitions release," base representatives said.

"No injuries, damages or fires have been reported at this time," D-M officials said.

The plane is part of the 354th Fighter Squadron from the 355th Wing at the Tucson base.

M-156 rockets are smoke-producing 2.75-inch rockets with a 2.2-lb. white phosphorous payload, used for marking targets and starting fires. The variant of the Hydra 70 rocket has a range of about 9,000 yards; the rockets are fired from 7 and 19-tube launchers.

The Jackal Military Operations Area and the adjacent Outlaw Military Operations Area, northeast of Tucson and about 30 miles east of Phoenix, support air-to-air and night training missions for Davis-Monthan and Luke Air Force bases, as well as the 162nd Air National Guard Fighter Wing based at Tucson International Airport.

Other MOAs, including Morenci and Cato, border on Jackal MOA and extend into New Mexico.

Air Force and other military planes operating below 18,000 feet are allowed to fly at night without lights in the MOAs, which are set up to segregate military training missions from civilian flights.

West of Tucson is a live-fire bombing range, where the nearly two-million acre Goldwater range is one of the U.S. military's most heavily used, with Air Force planes from D-M and Luke AFB as well as Marine aircraft based in Yuma strafing and bombing as well as practicing aerial maneuvers.

Unlike with the Goldwater bombing range, the land beneath the aerial MOAs is not controlled by the military.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Wow, glad nobody got hurt.

[Flick Lives]

"The rocket impacted in a desert wash in an uninhabited area under the Jackal Military Operations Area..."

If it wasn't uninhabited, it is now.

[immadashell]

If a missile explodes in the desert and no one is around does it make any noise?

[Feckless]

Really feel sorry for those guys, intense anal inspection coming up.

I was in a Cobra Battalion in the mid '80s doing annual gunnery at Yakima Firing Center when one of our Cobras lit up a sheepherder's trailer. The guy wasn't parked where he was supposed to be but we still caught hell. The gunner and co-pilot was being interviewed on Good Morning America by phone when he uttered the immortal words: "Yeah, we knew we had screwed the pooch whe we got secondaries (explosions) out of what was supposed to be an empty Connex." Cut to commercial....

[El Cid]

Probably saw a pesky prairie dog pop its head out of its hidey hole...

[Dr. Sivana]

Bombers
David Bowie

All clear wail the sirens
Sunshine on the wasteland
Old man sitting in the white sand
Think we're in for a big surprise
Right between the eyes

Seemed a good idea
To drop a bomb on the wasteland here
Only one man could be seen
And he was old and so serene
Captain sat in his deck chair
And the red light flashed, beware
Pilot felt quite big-time
As the bomb sailed through the air
Well, they danced and sang
When the bang went bang
When the lights popped out
And the smoke began to clear
It was positively queer

All clear wail the sirens
Sunshine on the wasteland
Old man sitting in the white sand
Think we're in for a big surprise
Right between the eyes

"Die" said the General
"Cobblers" said the man
So the Pentagon sent a cable
And the Queen a telegram
A-bombs, H-bombs, even very small ones
Ripped apart that sand
'Til the stench was just revolting
And the sky a greenish tan
But the soldier said "Sir,
there's a crack in the world"
And the figures went "squash",
And the bits flew far and wide
How the universe sighed!

All clear wail the sirens
Sunshine on the wasteland
Old man sitting in the white sand
Think we're in for a big surprise
Right between the eyes

All clear wail the sirens
Sunshine on the wasteland
Old man sitting in the white sand
Think we're in for a big surprise
Right between the eyes

When the smoke had blown away
There was nothing left to view
Except a man dear Lord who looked like you
Floating high up in the sky

[ptsal]

Dope running mules dropped their loads and marked the spot in brown.

[Chode]

negligent discharge...

[SuperLuminal]

Will be classified by demoncrats as a nuke accident and cause demands for more disarmament...

IAC, phosphorous rockets, pump-stocks, high-capacity mags, and that newly disclosed (by Biden) high-capacity ammo are all leading contributors to global warming, racism, and homophobia...

[QBFimi]

Shades of TWA 800...

[salmon76]

Did he hit the pronghorn? If not, he needs more practice.

[Libloather]

New Amazon delivery method?

[bigbob]

If it had been closer to the border it might have had a deterrent effect.

[Dalberg-Acton]

Misleading headline.
It was the pilot who mistakenly fired the missile, not the plane.

[TADSLOS]

LMAO.

Master Arm Switch in the ON position.

Oops.

[Openurmind]

If it didn’t actually explode then it was an inert “drop” by accident and in no way a hot “fire”. That used to happen all the time in the chocolate mountains firing range on purpose for training. Sounds blown up out of proportion here.

[TADSLOS]

LOL

Yep.

[TADSLOS]

Good point. Not sure why the Air Force PAO felt compelled to divulge it to the media since it impacted in their own (remote) training area.

On a scale of major incidents requiring a press release, this one shouldn’t even register.

[Vinnie]

Fox 1. Oops!

[Feckless]

Newspaper article

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmfU9r-00251hmxOnsflLKL7GfRV?e=SXn7Xc