"A Routine Training Exercise...
Why Were They Not Proficient?"
During the ROK-US joint military exercises, an accident occurred where bombs dropped from an Air Force fighter jet fell on residential areas. Yang Wook, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, expressed regret, saying, "There are at least three verification steps to confirm whether the bomb release coordinates entered during flight and before release are accurate," and added, "We need to investigate whether these verification procedures were not followed."
On the 7th, Yang stated on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "Bomb release involves inserting a USB (storage device) containing coordinates entered via computer or keyboard into the aircraft," and lamented, "This is something that should never happen."
The Air Force attributed the cause of the accident to pilot coordinate input error. Yang agreed, explaining, "The very purpose of this weapon system is to drop bombs precisely at the desired location. Therefore, unless it was a mistake, such an incident is unlikely to occur."
On the 6th, a misfire accident involving an Air Force fighter jet occurred in Nogok-ri, Idong-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, and smoke is rising at the accident site. Photo by Yonhap News
The accidental bombing occurred during the process where two KF-16 aircraft each dropped four MK-82 general-purpose bombs. Regarding whether it is possible for two fighter jets to simultaneously make a release error, Yang explained, "When two aircraft fly as one formation, the second aircraft follows the control of the first," and added, "The pilot of the second aircraft must have also entered coordinates separately during the release process following the first aircraft, so it is questionable whether there was no procedure to cross-check."
He continued, "This is a very common training exercise," emphasizing, "We need to investigate why they were not proficient, and whether there was insufficient training beforehand."
Meanwhile, the accident occurred during the ROK-US joint exercises conducted around the Seungjin Science Training Area in Pocheon City, Gyeonggi Province. The accident happened while two fighter jets were dropping bombs at the firing range, but the bombs headed toward residential areas about 8 km away from the original target training ground, injuring residents and damaging buildings. So far, a total of 15 residents have been reported to have sustained serious and moderate injuries.
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