Press

The Swedish Air Force opted for a non-traditional means of fighting a forest fire on 25 July, deploying a Gripen fighter to drop a 225 kg GBU-12 laser-guided bomb from 3.000 meters in an attempt to cut fire threatening Älvdalen's shooting range, a military range where unexploded ammunition and difficult terrain made conventional extinguishing methods not sufficient. The first test had “a very good effect”, head of rescue operations Johan Szymanski said based on preliminary analyses as the bomb broke out the fire. The explosion had an effect on other fires that were 50, 100 and 150 meters from the target, he said, adding that more distant fires were not affected. - Novinky -