Ooops…

Pentagon confirms accidental Patriot launch

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US Patriot missile was accidentally launched in Qatar and landed in an unpopulated farm area, causing no injuries, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday. "I can tell you it’s been described as an accidental discharge," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, adding that the incident was under investigation. "Those things are not supposed to accidentally discharge," he said. "That’s why we need to investigate it."

Whitman said the missile was fired Monday night and "there were no injuries as a result of this mishap."

Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported that the missile was fired from the As-Saliyah military base.

Training or a PMS foul-up, one still has to wonder if TPI (two-person integrity) is/was followed.  YHS well remembers the Navy’s ‘oops’ Harpoon shot in the Caribbean several moons ago.  Seems some folks were doing PMS on two different parts of the system – one assuming power had been secured and the other requiring power to the system to perform the test.  Our everpresent pal Murphy was the uninvited third participant and when the circuit was energized, the missile launched – as advertised.  Fortunately it impacted in the broad ocean despite the presence of several battle group ships in the vicinity conducting ORE.  This radio exchange remains priceless:

"Bluetail, Strike…"

"Go ahead Strike"

"Bluetail – look out on your 040 and let us know what you see"

"Umm, Strike – what exactly am I looking for?"

"One of our small boys unintentionally launched a Harpoon and we think its headed for Mom…"

"…roger…looking, no joy"

At least there was a happy ending here, unlike later that summer off Denmark…