South Korea training mishap: Bombs hit civilian area, injuries reported
"Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were abnormally released from an Air Force KF-16 aircraft, landing outside the designated firing range," reports the Korean Air Force. We explain what kind of ammunition hit civilian buildings.
In South Korea, exercises within the Freedom Shield 2025 maneuvers framework have already begun, mobilizing F-35A, F-15, and KF-16 fighters. This last aircraft was involved in the incident at 9 PM Eastern Time near the Seungjin range in the town of Pocheon. The KF-16 "improperly" dropped eight Mk 82 bombs 25 miles from Seoul. As a result of the bomb drop, 15 people were injured, and several buildings were damaged.
The aircraft dropped bombs on civilian structures
The mentioned Mk 82 bombs are American general-purpose designs with a nominal weight of about 500 lbs. It is one of the smallest designs of this type currently in use—and also one of the most popular in the world. In 2017, their production began at the Nitro-Chem plant in Bydgoszcz.
The Mk 82 is a free-falling bomb with a fragmentation-explosive warhead containing tritonal, a charge weighing about 192 lbs. The length of a single missile reaches about 7.2 ft, while the diameter is just under 12 inches. This ammunition can be used with different fins, fuzes, and systems to delay descent. The Mk 82 is also used as the warhead of laser-guided systems, such as those in the GBU family, including the GBU-12, GBU-22, and GBU-38. Generally, it is designed to conduct strikes against buildings.
On the other hand, the KAI KF-16 Fighting Falcon is a South Korean fighter aircraft developed based on the American F-16 Fighting Falcon. It has served in the Korean service since 1998 and is a multirole design for conducting air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.
The "Korean F-16" propulsion is the Pratt & Whitney F-100-PW-229 engine, created to provide the best possible thrust-to-weight ratio and excellent maneuverability. Thanks to this, the KF-16 is a difficult target in the sky—it moves quickly and is agile.
