U.S. AIR FORCE: B-52s fire missiles at Navy ship during RIMPAC exercise

0 Comments | M2 Presswire, July, 1998

M2 PRESSWIRE-28 July 1998-U.S. AIR FORCE: B-52s fire missiles at Navy ship during RIMPAC exercise (C)1994-98 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD RDATE:280798 Two B-52s from the 20th Bomb Squadron fired missiles at the Navy's USS Somers July 21 as part of the Rim of the Pacific 1998 exercise. Each B-52 crew launched one AGM-142 Have Nap missile that struck its target set adrift about 30 miles northwest of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

According to Capt. Denis Heinz, radar navigator on the lead B-52, the original mission was to sink the USS Somers, a Decatur Class guided missile destroyer. Exercise officials changed the exercise scenario and asked the B-52 crew not to sink the vessel so other aircraft could use it for a target. Because the Have Nap is guided with a nose-mounted...