https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...ea-US-Air-Force.html

By STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 00:25 EST, 6 March 2025 | UPDATED: 00:47 EST, 6 March 2025



Eight people were injured when a fighter jet accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during a joint exercise between the US and South Korean Air Forces on Thursday.

The accidental bombing occurred in Pocheon, a city close to the border with North Korea.

The 500-pound MK-82 bombs 'abnormally' released by the KF-16 fighter jet fell outside a firing range, causing unspecified civilian damages, which included houses and a church, the South Korean air force said in a statement.

'We are sorry for the damage caused by the abnormal drop accident, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,' they added.

The air force said it will establish a committee to investigate why the accident happened and examine the scale of civilian damages. It said the fighter jet was taking part in the air force´s joint live-firing drills with the army.

The air force apologized for causing civilian damages and expressed hopes for a speedy recovery of the injured people. It said it will actively offer compensation and other necessary steps for victims.

The United States is yet to comment on the accidental bombing.

Yonhap news agency reported five civilians and two soldiers were injured. Yonhap said the conditions of two of the injured were serious but not life-threatening. It also said seven buildings were damaged.

Residents in the area have protested about the disturbance and potential danger from nearby training grounds for years.

Photographs shared by news agency News1 that it said were from the scene showed a badly damaged house with rubble strewn on the ground next to it.

The defense ministry said earlier on Thursday that South Korea and U.S. forces were holding their first joint live-fire exercises in Pocheon, linked to annual military drills due to start next week.

South Korea and the United States will kick off their annual Freedom Shield exercise on Monday, said Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The joint drills, which will run until March 20, aim to strengthen the readiness of the alliance for threats such as North Korea, the JCS said.

This year's drills will reflect 'lessons learned from recent armed conflicts' and North Korea's growing partnership with Russia, it added.

'Our planners look across the globe and identify the trends that are changing and we look at how we can incorporate that into our exercises,' Ryan Donald, a spokesperson for the United States Forces Korea (USFK), told a media briefing on Thursday.

North Korea views major South Korean-U.S. military training as an invasion rehearsal and often responds with missile tests and fiery rhetoric.

The hermit kingdom hasn't responded to the announcement, but earlier this week, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused the U.S. of intensifying confrontational actions and threatened to ramp up measures 'threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level.'

She cited the recent temporary deployments of U.S. strategic assets like an aircraft carrier and long-range bombers in South Korea and other U.S.-involved military activities.

Observers say North Korea could test-fire powerful nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S. mainland and American military bases in the region.

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim Jong Un again to revive diplomacy.

North Korea hasn´t directly responded to Trump's outreach as it argues U.S. hostilities against it has deepened since Trump´s inauguration.

Kim Jong Un and Trump met three times in 2018-19 to discuss how much economic and political benefits North Korea would receive in return for its nuclear disarmament.

But their diplomacy eventually fell apart after Trump rejected Kim´s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step, in exchange of extensive sanctions relief.

About 70 combined field training sessions are scheduled for this year's exercise, said Lee Sung-jun, a spokesperson for Seoul's JCS.

It was a South Korean KF-16.

Not USAF aircraft.

(Only stated as the USAF will likely be the "name" attached to the story in much of the media)

^^^ Yeah, that's what the article said.

quote:

The 500-pound MK-82 bombs 'abnormally' released by the KF-16 fighter jet

The corrupt media will do what they normally do. So, really, BFD, you know?

It’s been a while since I saw the F16 loadout, but 8 bombs are not on one pod. I can see maybe one pod being released, but 8? Any pilots here can explain the steps for a pilot to release 8?

"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

Not in this instance. Care to look up why the US and South Korea are training together? Has nothing to do with “globalization”.

Well, I'm glad it was the South Koreans and not us. Not that it makes much difference to the people who got hit. The way that headline reads makes it really easy to jump to the wrong conclusions.

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

Oh for fucks sake.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

Oh for fucks sake.

Par for the course for Silvermine.

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

WTF are you talking about? South Korea and the US have been training together for more than half a century. Without the US presence in South Korea, it would not be as peaceful as it is.
I hear a lot about South and North Korea in my house. My wife watches the South Korean news, and is updated daily when she speaks with family and friends back in her home country, South Korea.
Without the US presence and training, the Korean Peninsula would most likely be a war zone.

You call this Globalization? You’re a troll. Go back under your bridge and eat your bag of sugar.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
It’s been a while since I saw the F16 loadout, but 8 bombs are not on one pod. I can see maybe one pod being released, but 8? Any pilots here can explain the steps for a pilot to release 8?

You just select 8 to release, it’s not a big deal and there’s no limitation (that I’m aware of) prohibiting release from multiple positions. In fact, releasing everything off a single hard point can be dangerous because it creates an imbalance on the aircraft. I had a buddy killed when he released a single GBU12 (nominal 500lbs) from an outboard hard point on an A29. It put him into a spin he couldn’t recover from (CSO punched out and lived). It was a test mission.

For some weapons there are safe separation limitations, like internally launched, that prohibit simultaneous release of multiples so you have to sequence them. Also for some rocket pods there are limitations on how quickly they can fire. But in terms on “how could he drop 8 weapons at once” you just select that number and drop them.

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

Joint exercises are a safety measure. Even between services, if you fight together without training together the risk of fratricide is high. I never want to do something for real I haven’t done in training, globalization doesn’t factor in.

quote:

Originally posted by Silvermine:
"Joint exercises" = Globalization.

Every time you show up in a thread, the thread becomes about you, and I am sick of it. I've given you chances to correct your behavior but it's apparent nothing is going to change.

Your posting rights are revoked.

Gentlemen, let's move on. Not another word to or about this guy. I am sick of it. One more word to or about him in this thread and it gets locked.

At least MK82 bombs are unguided.
Damage could have been much worse....

These bombs have been used since the 50's, so I am very skeptical of the "accidentally" released.

Mk82's are loaded in a trio on a hard point.
So 1 didn't drop? Or was already dropped?

The way I understand it it's not new and bombs have fallen off accidently from planes before.
I don't know the reason why but I had to bandsaw bombs into sections so the metallurgists could examine the root cause. Speculation was improper casting and low temps at higher altitudes caused fissures which caused the bomb to release.
This was years ago but never heard anything about it.

Well, certainly proves that more training exercises are needed... provided they didn't fall off because of a malfunction

https://x.com/Mrgunsngear/status/1897661097655533793

My guess is that the drop itself was intentional, part of whatever exercise they were running, but the pilot just misjudged where he was at at the time.

When I watched the first video, I assumed the load out was practice bombs, rather than live munitions. Then I saw the video of the church.

That no one was killed is a miracle.

LIVE???!!! Damn, I assumed they were inert also.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
When I watched the first video, I assumed the load out was practice bombs, rather than live munitions. Then I saw the video of the church.

That no one was killed is a miracle.

Same here. Holy crap!