Fighter jet mistakenly machine-guns control tower

[Bengt Ekbladh]

Norwegian fighter jet mistakenly machine-guns control tower.

It is the second time in six years the tower has been fired on in error by F-16 jets – no one was injured either time.
A Norwegian fighter jet on a training exercise jet mistakenly machine-gunned a control tower with three officers inside, who survived unhurt, the military said Sunday.
Two F-16s were taking part in a mock attack on the uninhabited island of Tarva off Norway’s west coast when one of them opened fire with its M61 Vulcan cannon, which is capable of firing up to 100 rounds a second.
“An investigation has been opened,” Captain Brynjar Stordal, a spokesman for the Norwegian military, told AFP.
A hail of bullets hit the tower in the incident, which happened on the night of April 12,2016 but the officers inside were not injured.
In a similar incident in 2009, F-16s fired in error on the same tower, with at least one round piercing the structure, but again no-one was injured.
It’s not the only incident of an F-16 firing on the wrong target. In 2014 a Dutch fighter jet accidentally strafed the control tower at the Vliehors range on the island of Vlieland, north of Amsterdam, during a training flight.
During the incident, several live rounds from the aircraft’s 20mm cannon caused minor damage to the tower. Two controllers who were inside the building at the moment of the attack were not injured.

Men det händer även på andra ställen::
Dutch F-16 mistakenly strafes range control tower. And it’s not the first time.
On Nov. 4, a Dutch F-16 strafed a control tower on Vlieland Island Vliehors shooting range by mistake. It was not the first time such incident occurred.
The plane was to attack a target located within the shooting range with its M61 Vulcan cannon but, in an unfortunate incident, the rounds hit a control tower, located 500 meters further. Fortunately the controllers in the tower were unharmed. The tower itself though did receive some damage.
The reason for the incident is unknown and a special commision will gather to investigate.
This is the second time that a friendly fire incident happened in Vliehors.
Back in 2001, a German Tornado did shoot at the control tower in very similar circumstances. Back in 1998, a Danish F-16 even sent a guided missile into the tower. Fortunately just one person was mildly injured.
No information on the RNlAF F-16 involved is available. The Dutch Vipers are stationed in Volkel and Leeuwarden bases. Since the latter one is undergoing some works, the local F-16s were relocated to the southern airbase....

Ja ”sitter”man någorlunda säker i tornen?
Har liknande hänt i Sverige?