The Mayor of Katherine in the Northern Territory says there is always a degree of nervousness when the US military trains on the region's defence bases.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is investigating why a bomb released from a US Marine Corp F/A-18 Hornet nearly hit a control building at the Delamere Range 150 kilometres west of Katherine on Wednesday night.
No-one was injured but the range facilities were damaged in the mishap during the international exercise Southern Frontier.
A US fighter jet crashed on a cattle station near Katherine in September last year.
Katherine Mayor Anne Shepherd says the latest incident is a concern.
"I'm sure it's more than a perception that, and probably a bit of bias on my part, but I know that our defence forces are better trained than the Americans and we can't really afford to have these sorts of accidents," she said.
"Because it could happen over Katherine or Darwin or some other populated area and I think it's not very good for us."
All bombing activity at the range has been halted.
Ms Shepherd says it is not the first accident at the weapons range.
"Of course the Americans have lost two F/A-18s here in past years," she said.
"I think the last one crashed ... quite close to Katherine, so I'm certainly quite concerned about it.
"I know ... our Defence Force is always nervous when the Americans come."
The RAAF Directorate of Flying Safety is investigating the incident in conjunction with the US Marine Corps.
Exercise Southern Frontier involves about 500 US personnel from bases in Japan.
Greens party
The Territory branch of the Greens party has accused the US military of not facing up to the training incident.
Neither the Australian nor the US military has spoken publicly on the incident.
Ilana Eldridge from the Greens party says there is a lot of secrecy surrounding US training.
"It really looks to us as if the US is trying to position themselves to be able to act unilaterally, you know, act of their own, bat in military adventures in the region and doing it from the Northern Territory puts us all at grave risk," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1436110.htm
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My question is, how the fuck do you accidently bomb something?
1. Unless the plane is going into combat the bombs are not armed, theres a saftey pin system in them much like in grenades. This pin would have had to been "accidently" removed.
2. In the cockpit theres a "Master Arm" switch that has to be turned on before the fire control is activated. This would have had to been "accidently" turned on.
3. Theres an actual "Bomb Release" fire button that needs to be pressed to release the bomb. This would have had to been "accidently" pressed.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is investigating why a bomb released from a US Marine Corp F/A-18 Hornet nearly hit a control building at the Delamere Range 150 kilometres west of Katherine on Wednesday night.
No-one was injured but the range facilities were damaged in the mishap during the international exercise Southern Frontier.
A US fighter jet crashed on a cattle station near Katherine in September last year.
Katherine Mayor Anne Shepherd says the latest incident is a concern.
"I'm sure it's more than a perception that, and probably a bit of bias on my part, but I know that our defence forces are better trained than the Americans and we can't really afford to have these sorts of accidents," she said.
"Because it could happen over Katherine or Darwin or some other populated area and I think it's not very good for us."
All bombing activity at the range has been halted.
Ms Shepherd says it is not the first accident at the weapons range.
"Of course the Americans have lost two F/A-18s here in past years," she said.
"I think the last one crashed ... quite close to Katherine, so I'm certainly quite concerned about it.
"I know ... our Defence Force is always nervous when the Americans come."
The RAAF Directorate of Flying Safety is investigating the incident in conjunction with the US Marine Corps.
Exercise Southern Frontier involves about 500 US personnel from bases in Japan.
Greens party
The Territory branch of the Greens party has accused the US military of not facing up to the training incident.
Neither the Australian nor the US military has spoken publicly on the incident.
Ilana Eldridge from the Greens party says there is a lot of secrecy surrounding US training.
"It really looks to us as if the US is trying to position themselves to be able to act unilaterally, you know, act of their own, bat in military adventures in the region and doing it from the Northern Territory puts us all at grave risk," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1436110.htm
----
My question is, how the fuck do you accidently bomb something?
1. Unless the plane is going into combat the bombs are not armed, theres a saftey pin system in them much like in grenades. This pin would have had to been "accidently" removed.
2. In the cockpit theres a "Master Arm" switch that has to be turned on before the fire control is activated. This would have had to been "accidently" turned on.
3. Theres an actual "Bomb Release" fire button that needs to be pressed to release the bomb. This would have had to been "accidently" pressed.
