Australian minehunter to clear up US bombs dumped near Great Barrier Reef

An update to the PR disaster that resulted from USMC aircraft dropping of inert/unarmed ordnance near the Great Barrier Reef.

These will be removed by a mine hunter… possibly one tasked from the US 7th Fleet… assuming Congress doesn’t force their decommissioning… or one tasked by the Royal Australian Navy.

Report: Mine Hunter to Recover U.S. Bombs Dropped Near Great Barrier Reef

HMAS Diamantina sails into Rabaul Harbour in Papua New Guinea in 2011. Royal Australian Navy Photo

A mine hunting ship will be deployed to find four bombs dropped by two U.S. Marine AV-8B Harriers last week in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, according to local press reports published on Tuesday.

The vessel would either come from U.S. 7th Fleet’s homeport in Japan or Australia’s Fleet Base East in Sydney, according to the report.

It is unclear is the mine ship will be a U.S. Navy Avenger class mine countermeasure ship or an Australian vessel.

Navy officials at the Pentagon did not have any additional details on the operation and could not confirm the report from the Perth Now news service.

“Dive teams have been sent to the area to try and locate the weapons, but Navy sources said it would require specialist underwater detection equipment to identify the bombs,” reported Perth Now.

The mine sweeper to find the two BDU-45 practice bombs and two unarmed GBU-12 Paveway II bombs.

“The Harriers had intended to drop the ordnance in Townshend Island Range but controllers reported the area was not clear of hazards. Due to low fuel and inability to land with the amount of ordnance they were carrying, the on scene commander determined it was necessary to designate an emergency jettison area for the ordnance,” according to a statement from U.S. 7th Fleet issued on July 20.

“The selected emergency jettison area was in a deep channel away from the reef to minimize the possibility of reef damage,” according to a statement from U.S.

“It is approximately 50 to 60 meters deep and does not pose a hazard to shipping or navigation.”

The Harriers were flying in support of the Talisman Saber 2013, a joint exercise conducted between the U.S. and Australia.

http://news.usni.org/2013/07/24/report-mine-hunter-to-recover-u-s-bombs-dropped-near-great-barrier-reef

Oops! USMC aircraft unload bombs near Great Barrier Reef

Please note:

1. inert training bombs, not live munitions
2. jettisoned, not dropped
3. “not far from” rather than “on top of”

That being said, if you’re going to jettison anything with the word “bomb” in it from an American military aircraft then you should probably do it somewhere where the press, environmentalists, and conspiracy theorists won’t have ammunition (pun intended) to attack you.

U.S. military jettisons bombs near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is composed of more than 3,000 individual reefs interspersed with more than 600 topical islands.

(CNN) — Two U.S. military aircraft jettisoned four bombs not far from the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coast last week, the U.S. Navy says.

The two Marine planes had to abandon the bombs Tuesday in the national park containing the natural wonder because they were running out of fuel and could not land with the amount of ordnance on board, the Navy said. The two Marine aircraft were launched from a Navy ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard.

Two of the projectiles were explosive bombs that were disarmed before they were dropped. They did not explode, the Navy said.

The other two were inert, or non-explosive bombs, the Navy said.

The pilots chose an area away from the reefs, which contain 400 types of coral. The area was also deep enough to prevent passing ships from running into the bombs, the Navy said.

The reef is home to 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 kinds of mollusks, according to the United Nations’ World Heritage Convention.

It is also a habitat for animals threatened by extinction and is protected as a World Heritage Site.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/21/world/asia/australia-reef-u-s-bombs