BBC: 2 Russian fighter jets dropped 700 kilo bomb (unexploded)

[FourScore]

over a town in (former USSR territory) Georgia. The bomb did not explode. Had it exploded, reports are that the death toll would have been enormous.

Reuters also reports it here:

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-28856620070807

[Olney Blue]

1. Was this an accident, or a threat to Georgia?

[FourScore]

2. It's unclear.

There's friction between them. But one has to wonder, how do you drop a 700 kilo bomb over a town by mistake???

[Olney Blue]

3. Mistake or not.....

:scared:

[unkachuck]

4. and why....

....would you 'drop a 700 kilo bomb over a town' and not have it explode?

[Posteritatis]

8. It was probably an accident (or an "accident")

Weapons mounts will fail now and then, and the Russian military doesn't exactly have a reputation for its master craftsmen and impeccable maintenance records. That sort of thing doesn't happen often, even in ramshackle militaries, but it does happen now and then.

Most bombs have to be armed before they'll go off, partly to prevent this sort of thing.

[Help me help Earth]

6. It happens periodically.

We accidentally dropped a nuke on Spain during the Cold War. It didn't go off either, as the mechanism to detonate it was not installed.

[FourScore]

7. Never heard about that one

Either way, it's different in this case because there is tension between Georgia and Russia. A better analogy would be if we "accidently" dropped one on North Korea or Iran that didn't detonate.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. It was a crash, rather than a bomb drop

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palomares_H-Bomb_Incident

[BlackHawk706867]

5. My personal thoughts are a warning to Georgia... You side with the West...

ie: George W. Bush and you stand to pay the serious price.... I really believe that Putin has not been fooled by these (people) in DC one iota....

ww

[burrowowl]

9. Probably inert and unarmed

Our guys , during a practice, dropped one on Monthans Texas and near Van Honre, one fell near the Guadalupe mountains. The only reason we knew about it was one went through a house (fournately no one injured) and one fell in tthe court house lawn. Apparently, the bombs were not properly locked in.

[ShaneGR]

10. Wanted to clear something up about bomb size....

A 750kg bomb is not that large in comparison to other bombs the russian military has at their disposal. To put it into perspective, the German "Snuka" divebomber carried a 700kg load during ww2.

[taterguy]

12. It would be a big bomb if it was dropped on your house

Besides, it's spelled Stuka