Chad missile accident

[willedoo]

A Chad Air Force Su-25 has accidentally discharged a missile at the Adji Kossei airbase. It went through a fuel tanker and deflected past a French C-130 Hercules, eventually hitting a house and killing five civilian,s including three children. Reports allege the house belonged to a top Chad army officer. It was said the fuel tanker is French as well. It looks like the missile would have hit the Hercules if the tanker wasn't there.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cedCOgrOhM

 

 

[Flightrite]

See how the missile was seriously deflected once it exited the tanker? Man that was scary! RIP to the inocent?

[facthunter]

Pretty slack operation if that can happen during refuelling. Nev

[willedoo]

Pretty slack operation if that can happen during refuelling. Nev

It's a bad show. One of the ground crew must have been in the cockpit fiddling around.

[Nobags]

Apprentice amourer “I wonder what this switch does” oh shite!

[Deskpilot]

I find it hard to believe that a missile could be launched without the attack radar being up and running, and locked on to a target. At least, that's how it worked with AI23/B in E.E. Lightnings back in the day.

[onetrack]

Well, it seems fairly obvious the Su-25 has minimal accidental launch protections. As with all Russian designs, they would be essentially simplistic. Master arm, press fire button, you have missile launch.

I would expect the rockets are early "dumb" rockets (i.e. - not laser-guided), as the Russians would be wary of giving the Chad AF the latest technology.

 

What I find interesting is why the rocket didn't explode when it contacted the fuel tanker tank. I was under the impression all rocket weaponry involved explosive initiation upon nose contact.

Either the rocket was a training dummy, or the initiation system failed, or had degraded to the point of malfunction.

[Riley]

Similar event took place at a RCAF CF100 fighter sqdn base in Northern Ontario, Canada in 1959. No operational flying was occurring due to Xmas break stand-down but catch-up maintenance was being carried out on a relaxed basis by standby personnel. An electronics tech and an armourer were performing stray voltage checks on a CF100 all-weather fighter in the hangar when check lists got mixed up and one or the other pushed the 'go' button and delivered 29 rockets out of the port wing pod thru the doors and across the double line of aircraft parked outside. Miraculously, the rockets missed the parked aircraft but the noise certainly got we off-duty airmen out of bed in a hurry. The incident never got coverage in the air force 'crash comics' so which of the two technicians (if not both) got tarred and feathered was never revealed. Not a Merry Xmas for some.

[Jase T]

OK, I don't the SU-25 but I do know armed military aircraft very well. There is a big RED switch in the cockpit... It is called Master Arm, it is generally guarded to off..... If it's off nothing can fire, you can generally use and test a weapons system (including radar and all sensors there are even ways to test the firing circuit without arming it) with it off. It is NEVER set to arm unless you intend to fire a weapon and you have received approval to do so. I cant think of a reason for it to be in the Armed position on the ground... It is designed to prevent exactly this sort of accident!

[Marty_d]

What I find interesting is why the rocket didn't explode when it contacted the fuel tanker tank. I was under the impression all rocket weaponry involved explosive initiation upon nose contact.

Either the rocket was a training dummy, or the initiation system failed, or had degraded to the point of malfunction.

I was under the impression that missiles wouldn't arm until they were a certain distance away from the firing aircraft, for obvious reasons.

[willedoo]

Either the rocket was a training dummy, or the initiation system failed, or had degraded to the point of malfunction.

It was a live missile; it carried on past the Hercules to the far side of the base and destroyed a house, killing five occupants.

[Jabiru7252]

Well, it seems fairly obvious the Su-25 has minimal accidental launch protections. As with all Russian designs, they would be essentially simplistic. Master arm, press fire button, you have missile launch.

I would expect the rockets are early "dumb" rockets (i.e. - not laser-guided), as the Russians would be wary of giving the Chad AF the latest technology.

 

What I find interesting is why the rocket didn't explode when it contacted the fuel tanker tank. I was under the impression all rocket weaponry involved explosive initiation upon nose contact.

Either the rocket was a training dummy, or the initiation system failed, or had degraded to the point of malfunction.

 

The missiles I'm familiar with do not arm until well clear of the launch aircraft. Perhaps it had not armed until after it hit the tanker. And, often pilots cannot arm the missile until they get a code from somebody when they are nearer their target. Stops them doing a u-turn and blowing up their own base I guess.