Tag: Rodriguez Range

UPDATE #1: It is now being reported that not one, but two KF-16’s mistakenly bombed the village. I am not a fighter pilot, but how does something like this happen?:

Several people were injured Thursday in Pocheon city after two South Korean fighter jets accidentally released eight live bombs outside a practice range, according to South Korea’s air force. The MK-82 bombs were “abnormally” dropped at 10:04 a.m. Thursday beyond an unspecified live-fire range by a pair of KF-16 fighters, according to an air force statement to reporters that day. Each jet dropped four bombs, according to the air force. The bombs were not practice rounds, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by phone Thursday. The MK-82 is a 500-pound, 7-foot-long free-fall bomb also employed by the U.S. military. The KF-16 is the South Korean air force’s variant of the U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. At least 15 people, including area residents, were injured in the incident, Yonhap News reported Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

Original Posting: This a huge mistake that hopefully will not have repercussions on USFK’s continued use of Rodriguez Range as a live fire location:

An Air Force fighter jet on Thursday misdropped eight bombs outside a training range during live-fire drills, injuring civilians in the area, officials said.

The KF-16 fighter jet taking part in a live-fire exercise “abnormally” released eight MK-82 bombs outside the training range in Pocheon, 42 kilometers northeast of Seoul, at 10:04 a.m.

The Air Force said it is conducting an investigation into the accident and apologized for the damage to civilians.

(Korea Times)

You can read more at the link, but locals have complained about live fire training at Rodriguez Range near Pocheon. It will be interesting to see what caused this horrible accident because I have never heard of something like this ever happening before.

The issues around Rodriguez Range is very similar to noise complaints by people who build homes around airports. The range had been there long before the population began increasing around the area. It looks like the ROK government will now invest enough money in the area to keep the locals quiet for the time being:

U.S. troops may now employ attack helicopters in live-fire drills at a range 16 miles from North Korea, according to the South’s Ministry of National Defense. For the past six years, the Army could fly AH-64 Apaches in exercises at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, but not fire their weapons. Representatives from the ministry, South Korean army and a citizens’ group investigating noise complaints from the range, signed a memorandum Monday to “normalize” training by U.S. forces, according to a ministry news release that day.

Concerns over noise generated by the Apaches prompted a U.S. noise study earlier this year, Kang Tae Il, chairman of the citizens’ group — Pocheon Live Fire Range Countermeasure Committee — told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. “We, local residents, originally wanted to get this range moved and closed,” he said. “However, in the situation in our country that is a standoff with North Korea, soldiers need to train somewhere.”

The change near the border came as tensions continue to tick higher on the peninsula. On Tuesday, North Korea destroyed parts of inter-Korean roads on its side of the border, after claiming that South Korean drones flew over Pyongyang. To compensate Pocheon residents for the noise, the ministry agreed to construct a gymnasium, golf course and other sports facilities around the range at an undetermined date, Kang said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This live fire is being executed as part of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise:

South Korea and the United States staged a large-scale combined live-fire exercise near the inter-Korean border Wednesday, in a vivid display of the allies’ military might amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

A centerpiece of the Combined Joint Fires Coordination Exercise (CJFCX) took place in Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, about 30 kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), involving high-morale troops, battle tanks, mortars, howitzers and warplanes to boot.

Yonhap News Agency and three other news outlets were given access to observe the four-day exercise set to run through Thursday, as the allies are pushing to beef up combined drills amid concerns about possible North Korean provocations like a nuclear test.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Rodriguez Range has been using for live fire training for decades and the complaints about the noise from the range have continued to build as the population in the area continues to grow:

Speculation is growing that U.S. Apache helicopters may return to the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, for live-fire exercises amid persisting complaints from nearby residents over noise and other inconveniences due to the drills.

According to the Korean military, Wednesday, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) plans to conduct the training from July 18 to 29 during the day and night. 

The exercises will be carried out in order to measure the intensity of noise from live-fire drills, based on a recently enacted law aimed at compensating local residents suffering from noise caused by military airports and shooting ranges. Under the law, people residing near military airports and ranges are entitled to receive up to 60,000 won ($45) per person per month without filing a lawsuit.

The USFK has not conducted live-fire drills since July 2018 ostensibly due to stray round incidents, but taking a closer look, the noise issue is the main reason for the suspension of the exercises, according to military sources. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a horrible accident and condolences to all the family members and friends impacted by this:

A crash involving a U.S. military vehicle killed four South Koreans, prompting U.S. Forces Korea to temporarily suspend training in the area, which is near the border with North Korea, officials said Monday.

An SUV carrying the four civilians rear-ended the armored personnel carrier – a tracked vehicle – at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday on a road near the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in the city of Pocheon, local police and fire officials said.

The four civilians were pronounced dead at the scene, a fire official said. The two soldiers in the military vehicle were not seriously injured. One was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation but was cleared and released back to his unit, according to the 2nd Infantry Division.

USFK expressed “its deepest condolences” to the families and loved ones of the deceased and said the military was fully cooperating with the South Korean police investigation into the crash.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I don’t think the Korean anti-U.S. leftists will be able to politicize this accident like they did with the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident. The fact the armored vehicle was rear ended makes it harder to blame the soldiers for the accident. However, USFK will fully investigate what happened with this accident and if there was any negligence I am confident people will be held accountable.

Here is the latest complaints from residents who live outside of Rodriguez Range that the 8th Army commander had to apologize for:

A top U.S. commander has apologized to a South Korean mayor for stray ammunition rounds found outside a sprawling training complex near the tense frontier that divides the peninsula.

Lt. Gen. Michael Bills, the Eighth Army’s new commander, made the comments Thursday during an office call with the mayor of Pocheon, the area that is home to Rodriguez Live Fire Range.

“During the meeting he apologized for the Jan. 3 incident that resulted in several ammunition rounds being found in a [South Korean army] motorpool” near the U.S. complex, the Eighth Army public affairs office told Stars and Stripes Friday in an email.

“He reinforced that the safety of the citizens of our host nation is a top priority,” it added.

More than 10 .50-caliber rounds were discovered at the South Korean base, weeks after the U.S. command hosted a town-hall meeting in Pocheon to address public outrage after a bullet from the range was found inside a local home in November.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but from the article it is unclear if these were just stray rounds accidentally left on the ROK base or actual fired rounds.  If these were just stray rounds accidentally left in the ROK base I don’t see what the residents are complaining about since it is not a danger to them?

I do find it interesting that no one ever seems to protest ROK military training areas:

The contentious Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, a tactical training area for the American army near the border with North Korea, was brought up in a recent high-level military conference between Seoul and Washington as nearby residents have complained of noise and safety concerns.

U.S. military officers worry that the complex, a 3,390-acre training zone managed by the 8th U.S. Army, could become the next “hot potato” after the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile shield in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, a senior South Korean government official told JoongAng Ilbo Sunday on the condition of anonymity.

The field, which is the U.S. military’s largest shooting complex in Asia, was among the main agenda items discussed at the annual Military Committee Meeting between Jeong Kyeong-doo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his U.S. counterpart, Joseph Dunford, last Friday.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but Rodriguez Range could close tomorrow and the THAAD battery could redeploy back to the United States and the leftists will still find “hot potato” issues to bash USFK with.  Remember these are the same people who created a hot potato issue by claiming a USFK mortician polluted the Han River and exposed everyone in Seoul to cancer.  They even convinced most people in Korea that eating US-beef would kill them.

The bottom line is that the Korean left will never be happy until USFK is gone.  That is there ultimate goal with sensationalizing every “hot potato” issue.

Here is the latest on the Rodriguez Range noise complaint issue:

The U.S. military agreed Thursday to address noise complaints and safety concerns about the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex near the border with North Korea.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 8th Army commander, signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at forging a stronger bond between residents in the rural area and U.S. forces who train there.

The mountainous, 3,390-acre training complex is considered essential by U.S. Forces Korea and their South Korean allies for military exercises to maintain a state of readiness amid high tensions on the divided peninsula. It will remain operational even after most U.S. forces relocate south to an expanded Camp Humphreys.

But nearby residents have long complained about noise, fires and occasional mishaps. Training was temporarily halted after an anti-tank missile fired by U.S. Marines on Dec. 30 landed in an abandoned building about 650 feet outside the range’s boundary.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the MOA is supposed to include guidelines on how troops will conduct safe training and respond to local noise complaints.

While the investigation into why an inert TOW missile that hit a Korean civilian shed continues, Rodriguez Range will reopen for training:

Training resumed Saturday at Rodriguez Live Fire Range in South Korea, though restrictions introduced after a missile went astray last month will remain in place for the time being.

A tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) anti-tank missile fired Dec. 30 by U.S. Marines landed 200 meters outside the range boundary in an abandoned building within Pocheon city limits. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, said Col. David Patterson Jr., 8th Army spokesman.

“We will not fire the munition involved in the … incident on [Rodriguez Range] until the joint investigation is completed,” he said.

The safety of Pocheon residents remains a top concern of the command, Patterson said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.