At 10:04am local time, Thursday, during a training exercise, a South Korean fighter jet, a KIA KF-16 dropped 8 bombs on the town of Pocheon in South Korea, near the border with North Korea.
Some of the damage shown as well as a quick snap of the aftermath of the explosion.
While only one of the bombs is thought to explode the damage destroyed a church and several other buildings. Thankfully although a reported 7 that were injured, some in critical condition and were hospitalized, there were no fatalities. All injured remained conscious, many involved had bone fractures and breaks and one man caught shrapnel in his neck while driving.
A South Korean Air Force official said ” Our KF-16, abnormally dropped 8 shells of MK-82 bombs, it landed outside of firing range.” The Air Force continued that they would be investigating the incident and apologized for the damage cause.
Korean KF-16 the licensed South Korean version of the F-16. MK-82
Rumors were pretty heavy across social media last night, most people were trying to push a narrative that the U.S. accidentally bombed a South Korean town which isn’t true. The U.S. and South Korea havent trained together yet since the new presidential administration and will be conducting their first drills on March 10-20 as reported several days ago by AP. Ever since twitter did away with the old way it used to do verifications, you very often will see supposedly verified blue check mark accounts, lying for clicks. Just something to be aware of.
Firefighters across North and South Carolina are currently battling a staggering 175 wildfires. Windy and dry conditions across the states has caused for growing concern as evacuation orders are issued.
The ongoing fires have burned over 4000 acres over the weekend and continued into Monday. South Carolina governor Henry McMasters issued some localized evacuation orders as well as a state of emergency allowing for federal funds and resources to be made available although I don’t have specifics for that as of yet.
The cause of these wildfires is unknown in most cases however one in Polk County, North Carolina was caused by a downed power line. Conditions on the ground with low humidity and little rain haven’t helped matters. U.S. forest service put out an alert that improper and careless debris burning had caused some of the blazes. The U.S. forest Service was one hit with a wave of layoffs recently, some expect wildfires to increase as part of the forest services job is brush cleanup as well as other wildfire preventative measures.
(I’ve reached out to the forest service and will update when I hear back.)
Map shows the location of some of the larger blazes.
The Myrtle beach area of South Carolina has been impacted by heavy fires. As always local reporting can’t be beat so I’m including it here:
The Blue Ridge Mountains fire in North Carolina is threatening the communities of Saluda and Tryon, which are located near the South Carolina border. Reporting here.
The South Carolina National Guard has been mobilized to aid in the fire fighting efforts. Several Blackhawk Helicopters have been dispatched to carry water. No word from the White House on the ongoing situation.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships, first spotted last week according to Australian officials, have carried out a military drill in the Tasman Sea, the area between Australia and New Zealand. The drill, carried out on Friday, consisted of ship maneuvers as well as a live-fire component. Air traffic in the region was warned only moments before the live fire drills started and were forced to divert to other routes.
“We haven’t been given a reason as to why they’re here in this configuration with this set of ships, with these different set of capabilities, and we don’t really have a sense of, you know, we haven’t been told where they’re going and why.”
Said New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He continued
“They are in international waters, they are completely within the balance of international law and the UN Convention on the law on the sea, which is important, it is important that all countries have freedom of navigation, it works for us when we are out and about in the world as well.”
The task force of Chinese ships was led by Type 055 destroyer Zunyi. Also was the Type 054A Frigate Hengyang, and Type 903 replenishment ship Weishanhu.
February 17 concluded a 24 hour flight for a number of US aircraft that went on a “show of force” mission. Also called a “force projection” demonstration through the Middle East.
Flying out of RAF Fairford, South of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, 2 US B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers made their way south over Europe and into the Mediterranean and then on to the Middle East.
The Bombers were joined by a number of escorts from 4 regional partner nations at various points during its mission as well as at least 2 U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles.
B-52s flying with 2 US F-15 Strike Eagles as well as two unknown partner nation F-16s Vipers.
“Bomber Task Force missions demonstrate U.S. power projection capability, commitment to regional security, and ability to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the CENTCOM region”said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander.
While being mainly a power projection mission the bombers also took part in dropping live munitions on several target ranges located in partner nations.
Live fire range bombing (location unknown released by US CENTCOM)
These bombers are apart of the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron that just started the U.S. Air Forces first European bomber deployment for the year. They will fly out of RAF Fairford and are under command of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFA).
Some of the B-52s in Europe had already been photographed earlier this week when a picture was released by USAFE out of the cockpit of a B-52 showing them flying alongside French Dassault Rafales, Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripens, and Finnish F/A-18 Hornets,other photos were later released of the the flight. (shown below)
Operation APEX COMMANDER shows the U.S. Bombers operating with European allied fighters.
“Bomber Task Force missions reinforce our ability to rapidly project combat power, demonstrating U.S. lethality and readiness in a dynamic security environment,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Campo, U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces
While the U.S. has shown a desire to back away from European security it’s likely that the bomber deployments will, at least for the moment remain. US Allies do not, for the most part, have the ground attack capabilities that aircraft like the B-52, the B-1 and the B-2s can bring (as well as the new B-21 Raider. and interest in training alongside these bomber forces remains high.
The protective “sarcophagus” over the reactor core for reactor number 4.
At around 1:50 a.m. local time the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency said a blast occurred on the roof of the metal sarcophagus housing the concrete cover over the irradiated remains of reactor 4’s core. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims that a Russian suicide drone was the cause of the explosion, Russian officials at the Kremlin deny this.
“There is no talk about strikes on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities, any such claim isn’t true, our military doesn’t do that,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in a conference with the press.
The drone can be seen on video coming in from the Northeast. Russian/Belarusian territory. Pictures of the aftermath show some debris from the drone. The engine appears to be the same as what is found on an Iranian supplied Shahed drone used by Russian forces.
Video from a security camera shows the drone that impacted on the reactors outer casing. Debris found after the strike. Note the engine in the middle. Shahed Drone Engine. Another angle.
Chernobyl was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. The control room was running a series of test simulating cooling the reactor in blackout conditions. There was an unplanned drop in reactor power and then a surge in power when the control team tried to take the reactor offline and some components used for reactor cooling started rupturing and losing coolant. This resulted in an explosion of steam and a reactor meltdown that destroyed the containment building. Radiation spread for thousands of miles across the USSR and Europe. The series of events leading up to the meltdown are well documented online but if you want the Hollywood version that’s a little easier to understand the show Chernobyl did a pretty decent job of explaining how the core meltdown occurred.
While the initial explosion only killed 2 engineers and wounded 2 others, the resulting radiation affected thousands and is remembered as the worst nuclear disaster in as well as the most expensive human disaster in history.
Yesterday at around 11:46pm local time the US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) collided with the M/V Besiktas-M, a merchant vessel at the Egyptian port of Said near the mouth of the Suez Canal.
Position of the ships at the time of writing. (2:25PMEST) Both ships seems to be moving under their own power. Highlighted vessel is the Truman, the other goverment vessel shown to the south of it is the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) a part of its Strike Group.
Statements from navy officials say that no flooding occurred because of the collision and that the Truman was undamaged and her nuclear power plant was safe and secure. The status of the Besiktas-M is unknown at this time.
M/V Besiktas-M
The Truman was most recently deployed to the Red Sea and Mediterranean to combat the threat from Iranian backed Houthis in Western Yemen, as well as projecting power in the region and supporting other US and allied forces in the area. Recent Iranian actions have made maintaining a force in the Middle East increasing only important.
The Truman will likely continue or already has continued on its journey back to the Red Sea area. It was returning from a port call in Souda Bay, Crete Greece. NSA Souda Bay provides logistical and operational support to the components of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group
BWhile it might seem absurd to think a merchant vessel could get close enough to a carrier to collide with it in the first place because of the almost absurd amount of security around a U.S. Aircraft Carrier. However, in a restricted space such as close to the Suez Canal there isn’t room for everybody to maintain a distance from the carrier strike group and from how I understand it, all anybody can do is follow the international maritime “rules of the road” which have no requirements that merchant vessels make way for a carrier. All the U.S. can legally do is ask them to keep their distance. That’s how I understand it but if I’m wrong I welcome corrections.
Update
(5:00PM EST)
Some more info has come on the merchant ship Besiktas-M. It is a Panamanian-flagged bulk cargo ship. The ship has been heading north through the Suez canal heading to its destination states as being Constanta in Romania on the Black Sea. The Truman was heading south at the time when the mishap took place. The bulk carrier is said to have moderate damage above the waterline but continued under its own power.
Today, at around 10:15 PDT A US navy Boeing EA-18G Growler Electronic Attack Jet assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 135 crashed while taking off at NAS (Navel Air Station) North Island. The pilot and copilot are both unharmed as they ejected into the San Diego harbor and were picked up. The crew were originally picked up by a sport fishing charter boat the M/V Marietta, before being transferred to a Customs and border patrol craft according to radio calls made in the area that were recorded. The customs patrol boat transported them back to shore where they are now receiving medical attention at UC San Diego Health.
With the crew being recovered emergency crews will respond to the wreckage to investigate as well as clean up and debris and fuel from the crash. According to radio calls from the area there is a large amount of fuel and the navy has dispatched response teams.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
CCTV Video shows the EA-18G Growler coming in down in a quick descent. Essentially falling out of the sky. The camera barely catches it.
The aircraft had traveled to San Diego for ongoing exercises, leaving its home airbase at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington State. It’s unknown if the aircraft was taking part in the Bamboo Eagle 25-1 exercise currently taking place in the pacific.
NAS Whidbey Island
Bamboo Eagle is a massive event focused on a possible high stakes conflict in the Pacific Ocean with China. Being led by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center in Nellis it has brought dozens of not hundreds of military aircraft to the region for this combined arms operation with the U.S. and several key allies.
Video taken from twitter user San Diego web cams shows footage from their livestream as well as the radio calls that happens after the crash.
The EA-18G Growler is the U.S. Navy’s Electronic Attack aircraft that began to replace the EA-6B Prowler around the late 2010s. Based on the airframe of the F/A-18(E/F) It has since then become an integral part of the carrier air wing. The Growler swapped out the Super hornets main cannon with a strong AN/APG-79 AESA Radar. The plane has 9 weapons hard points but will almost always have 5 of those hard points taken up by ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming pods. The hard points that are left open are usually equipped with either AIM-120 AMRAAM for air threats or more likely AGM-88 HARM Anti-Radiation Missile that track enemy radar signals. The two wingtip rails that would usually hold AIM-9X sidewinders was replaced for AN/ALQ-218 passive radar warning receivers to detect enemy radar.
While mostly known for jamming enemy radar enemy communication can also be jammed by the Growlers suite of comms jamming systems.
Australian EA-18G Growler
While the growler with its jamming pods can defeat all current air and surface threats it comes up against its future is always in question as new and more advanced radars are developed and fielded and it’s jamming pods become out of date. The airframe is only as good as its equipment that needs to be updated in the near future.
Author note.
We here at GCR respect and appreciate any aircraft and crew capable of the roles of SEAD and DEAD. Suppression and destruction of enemy air defense is one of the most important roles in the always critical task of establishing aerial supremacy. The Growler holds a special place in my heart as did the Prowler that came before. Hats off to all of today and yesterday’s Electronic Attack Planes as well as the F-4 that carried out the insane Wild Weasel missions.
If you are somebody with knowledge of this story contact Scott at GCR. My contact info is on the Website and I would love to talk on or off the record regarding this story.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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