A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt accidentally fired a rocket over Arizona

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A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt accidentally fired a rocket over Arizona

Lt. Col. Brian Burger, an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot and the 188th Fighter Wing operations group commander, Fort Smith Air National Guard fires off a flare while banking into a high angle firing position during a training exercise on Razorback Range located at Fort Chaffee maneuver training center.

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  • A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt accidentally released munitions over Arizona on Thursday, according to an Air Force statement.
  • The attack aircraft fired off a M-156 rocket, which landed in an area outside the designated firing range.
  • This is the second time this year an A-10 has accidentally released munitions, after an incident in July where an A-10 dropped three dummy bombs while training over Florida.
  • Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.

A US Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II accidentally fired off a rocket outside of the designated firing range in Arizona on Thursday.

The attack aircraft, assigned to the 354th Fighter Squadron from the 355th Wing, "unintentionally" released an M-156 rocket while on a training mission, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base said in a statement.

The M-156, according to CBS News, is a white phosphorous projectile used to mark targets. The rocket landed in the Jackal Military Operations Area, located about 60 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona.

The Air Force says that no injuries, damages, or fires have been reported.

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Read more: A US Air Force A-10 accidentally dropped dummy bombs on Florida after hitting a bird

Thursday's incident, which is currently under investigation, is the second time in a little over two months an A-10 has accidentally opened fire in an area where it wasn't supposed to do so.

At the start of July, an Air Force A-10 out of Moody Air Force Base in Georgia accidentally dropped three training bombs over Florida after hitting a bird. The three BDU-33s, non-explosive ordnance designed to simulate M1a-82 bombs, fell somewhere off Highway 129 near Suwannee Springs in northern Florida.

While the dummy bombs were inert, they did include a pyrotechnic charge that could be dangerous if mishandled.

A bird strike, a problem that has cost the Air Force millions of dollars over the years, was identified as the cause of the accidental weapons release in July. It is currently unclear what caused Thursday's incident.

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