F-16 vs Suburban

[jsledder]

Now this would wake you up if you were nodding out while driving.
Here is a sobering shot of an SUV that got lit up by mistake, by an F16 pilot near the air-ground gunnery range outside Dugway, Utah.

The 'light paint and body damage' is the result of a one-quarter-second burst by the fighter's 20mm gun, which fires about 3000 rounds per minute. An estimated 70 rounds left the gun; the results are as you see here. What's even more astonishing is - the SUV was being driven at the time. The driver and the guy in the right-hand passenger seat escaped with some light glass injury to the driver, and a dislocated shoulder to the passenger. The shots hit the gas tank, but didn't explode; the gas just leaked out. The passenger who normally sits in the back seat had just moved to another vehicle.

The vehicle was on the military reservation, but a full three miles away from the gunnery range. The pilot is probably doubtless busily writing 'I WILL NOT ENGAGE SOFT CIVILIAN VEHICLES IN NO-FIRE ZONES' 1,000 times, after which he will be PCS'd to Shemeya AFB, Alaska. The good news is that he only had 508 plus or minus 2 rounds of ball training ammo and not HEI (high explosive incendiary)! I would imagine this event will have an impact on his career!

 

[sldgy]

You can probably thank the American's with Disabilities Act for that one.

 

[H2SNOW]

oh no !!! hes comin up north of 60

 

[Dogmeat]

WOW ...

Those guys in the Suburban are the luckiest people alive.

WOW.

 

[$nowMeansBroke]

The last time I saw this on another forum the story was that these guys were driving across a closed 'hot' range.

 

[SAWYER]

wow, chevys don't stand up to anything

 

[HIGHMARK]

Why are all the tires flat? Doesn't look like any of them were hit.

 

[vanislerev]

i was on a live fire range last fall and we had some cf-18s buzzing low overhead and doing some bursts. a tad bit humbling. hate to be on the recieving end!

 

[slyrydr]

f-16 gattling gun shoots 100 rounds per second, 20 mm....a 1/4 sec burst will cut most airplanes in half, or the succeeding airflow change will rip it apart if it survives the rounds.....during war time, the rounds are armour piercing incindiary and will blow up/torch almost anything...the rounds that hit the suburban are training ammo, basically ball-type slugs.....the slugs leave the barrels at about 3000 ft/sec plus the speed of the jet, which brings them close to 4000 ft/sec.....a 1/4 to 3/4 sec burst from a range of about 3000 ft will put about 50 to 70 rounds in a ten foot circle.....however, maverick missiles were my favorites....400 lbs of high explosive going just under the speed of sound (no one knows it's coming), they guide on infra-red energy, a lighted cigarette will do, or the t.v. picture in the cockpit from 20 miles away...knock the turret off a soviet tank and turn it into an inferno hot enough to turn sand to glass...that's why the iraquis parked their tanks and camped about a 150 yds away, once their tank was history, they simply changed out of their uniforms and walked home

 

[onlyrotax]

Relax, I think that will "buff out".

 

[milehighassassin]

Why are all the tires flat? Doesn't look like any of them were hit.

Probably from the shrapnel from the body getting hit.

 

[Pekabu]

Couple of thoughts.

1: Should have paid for the camo painted suburban instead of RED!

2: Wonder if this will show up on a carfax report?