F-16 are possibly one of the most popular fighters. These are monomotor combat airplanes developed by the American General Dynamics that went from being listed as “light hunting” to evolve to versatile. Inside, one of the most common air weapons on the planet: the pump without Mark 82 guide. Up to eight of them have fallen near the border with North Korea by error.
The incident. Two KF-16 fighters of the South Korean Air Force (Rokaf) accidentally launched eight MK-82 bombs on a village/city in the Nogok area, on the outskirts of Pocheon, about 40 kilometers from Seoul and no less than 32 kilometers from the North Korean border.
Because? The error occurred shortly after 10 am during a real fire exercise in preparation for joint maneuvers with the United States. As a result, 15 people were injured, two of them in serious condition, and dozens of residents were evacuated, in addition to destroying, among other things, a church.
The causes and the answer. The first investigations indicate that the pilot of one of the planes incorrectly introduced the coordinates of the target, causing the fall of the pumps in an inhabited area. However, it is not yet clear why the second plane also launched its explosive load.
The South Korean Air Force has suspended all real fire exercises to clarify the facts and formed an emergency committee to investigate what happened. In an official statement, the authorities expressed their apologies and have promised assistance to those affected.
Damage and testimonies. Explosions caused severe damage to local infrastructure, including homes, trucks and, as we said, a church. The impact of the pumps was strong enough to shake a center for people over more than half a kilometer from the place.
Among the testimonies collected by local media, residents have described chaos scenes, with smoke rising to heaven, broken pipes and people trapped in vehicles. A witness reported that some houses were “games in half” and that several people were injured inside a car on a route to a construction work.
Impact on joint safety and maneuvers. In addition, the incident occurs at a time of high voltage in the Korean Peninsula, with South Korea, the United States and Japan concerned with the growing military alliance between North Korea and Russia. Seoul has denounced on several occasions that Pyongyang has sent soldiers to fight in Ukraine, and South Korean intelligence sources say that recently North Korean people were deployed in the Russian city of Kursk.
Plus: The accidental bombardment has occurred a few days before the start of the joint exercises called Freedom Shield, scheduled to begin next Monday (from March 10 to 20). Although the South Korean authorities have ensured that the incident will not affect the development of these maneuvers, the security of real fire exercises has been, in question.
Precedents and consequences. While it is not the first time that South Korean military planes release bombs by error, this is the first incident with serious injuries. In the past, other exercises have had technical failures, such as the one that occurred in 2022, when a short -range ballistic missile failed and fell into an unspecified military base. In 2004, a South Korean F-5b accidentally dropped a practice bomb over Boryeong, without causing injuries.
With everything and as we indicated, this time the detonation of real weapons in a populated area (a city with 140,000 inhabitants), aggravates the situation and raises questions about the security of this type of training. The error of South Korean fighters has not only caused material damage and civil victims, but has also generated concerns about the risk of similar incidents in the future.
With the growing militarization of the region and the strengthening of the alliance between North Korea and Russia, any tactical error in the peninsula can have significant geopolitical repercussions.
Image | Wikimedia, SGT-Lee
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