Fighter Jet News

F-16 Fighting Falcon News

Belgian practice bomb gone missing over Germany

July 26, 2009 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The German military is looking for an imitation bomb, dropped over Germany by a Belgian F-16 fighter jet during a training flight last Monday.

A Belgian F-16 taxiing with BDU-33 practice bombs hanging under the TER

"The search is still on," for the 50-centimeter-long training bomb weighing four kilograms, a German Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The incident caused no damage. The dud munition is thought to be in the Cloppenburg district, in the state of Lower Saxony. The dummy bomb measures 50 centimeters and weighs about 4 kilograms.

The Luftwaffe has requested a clarification of the incident from its Belgian counterpart.

After the Belgian Air Component had informed the German Air Force, military police from Wilhelmshaven was sent out for the search operation, which has so far been unsuccessful.

It is not uncommon for practice bombs to fall off F-16s. Last year in March for example, a BDU-33 fell from a U.S.A.F. F-16 in Oklahoma, striking an apartment building.