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Some strange news surfaced recently of an SUV in an Army training ground in Utah, USA copping some 20mm flak from an F-16 fighter. A sobering shot of an SUV that got lit up by mistake, by an F-16 driver near the air-ground gunnery range outside Dugway, Utah. The light paint and body damage is the result of a one-quarter-second burst by the fighter's 20mm gun, which fires about 3000 rounds per minute. An estimated 70 rounds left the gun; the results are as you see here.
What's even more astonishing is the SUV was being driven at the time. The driver and the guy in the right-hand passenger seat escaped with some light glass injury to the driver, and a dislocated shoulder to the passenger. The shots hit the gas tank, but didn't explode; the gas just leaked out.
The passenger who normally sits in the back seat had just moved to another vehicle.
The vehicle was on the military reservation, but a full three miles
away from the gunnery range.
The incident occurred during a nighttime training mission April 8 in which the fighter pilot was practicing shooting at ground targets.
A Hill Air Force Base spokeswoman says the soldiers were not hit, but did suffer minor injuries "while exiting the vehicle in rough terrain,"
The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was in part of the range where the Air Force uses live ammunition in mock combat. Lt. Beth Woodward says it was not clear whether the soldiers were supposed to be in the area when the pilot fired.
Air Force investigators have closed part of the range as they investigate the incident.
An investigation board, headed by 388th Fighter Wing Commander Scott Dennis, will determine whether the soldiers were in the wrong area of the range or whether the fighter pilot targeted the wrong vehicle.
The soldiers were part of a Joint Terminal Attack Control unit from Fort Lewis, Wash., training to identify enemy targets and direct U.S. aircraft to fire on them.
http://www.f-16.net/news_article2825.html
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