Super Hornet Drops Bomb Six Miles Outside the Intended Target Area

Though mistakes happen, the Navy likely wasn’t happy to find out that one of its F/A-18F Super Hornets accidentally dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb six miles from the intended target. The mishap lit up Ocala National Forest and torched more than 20 acres of land.

The Super Hornet variant involved is assigned to the “Wildcats” of Strike Fighter Squadron 131 (VFA-131), based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. It was conducting live bomb testing at the Pinecastle Range Complex, nestled within Florida’s Ocala National Forest, as part of a four-day exercise.

On February 12, two days into the training, the fighter “dropped live ordnance outside a target area … the bomb impacted approximately six miles north of the intended target location in an uninhabited area,” read a statement from NAS Jacksonville.

United States Forest Service firefighters were quickly deployed to the scene and were able to extinguish the flames before they spread too far. However, an assessment determined that approximately 20 acres of Ocala National Forest had already been scorched when the fire was contained. Luckily, the Navy has not confirmed any injuries or received reports of private or personal damage.

The Pinecastle Range Complex is part of the NAS Jacksonville installation and is frequently used for live-fire exercises. It is also the only Navy range on the East Coast that is authorized to use explosive air-to-surface ordnance. The space encompasses a water range called Lake George and two land ranges - Pinecastle, where the bomb was dropped, and Rodman.

FMI: www.navy.mil