F-16 friendly fire incident...in Utah!

This is really the type of story you'd expect to hear about in Iraq or Afghanistan, not Utah. An F-16 from Hill AFB in Utah was involved in a friendly fire incident when the pilot opened fire on an SUV with two Army soldiers in it during a night training mission in the Utah Test and Training Range according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The incident, which occurred on April 8, happened while the F-16 pilot was practicing attacks on ground targets. It is common practice for the Air Force to leave abandoned vehicles and old military equipment on the range for Viper drivers to shoot/fire missiles/drop bombs on. The two Army soldiers received minor injuries during bailout of their Avis rental SUV (which subsequently crashed) while the F-16 strafed it with its 20 mm cannon. An investigation by the 388th Fighter Wing is underway to ascertain whether the soldiers were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if the pilot fired upon the wrong vehicle. The soldiers are a part of a Joint Terminal Attack Control unit from Fort Lewis, WA who were supposed to be directing aircraft fire to ground targets. The best part of this story is that the two Army soldiers combat duties include working to prevent "friendly fire" mishaps. Whoops.

This F-16 unit has now entered the pool with the Oklahoma ANG F-16 unit, who bombs Tulsa apartment complexes, in the running for the annual FUBAR cluster championship.

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