Lakeland FL Airport Is Evacuated After Live French S-530 Air-To-Air Missile Is Found in a Shipping Container -Air Force Called to Remove It (Video)

by N.Morgan

It certainly makes you wonder what that was going to be used for? Or if others are still sitting in shopping containers, at some airport?  A contractor who was working at a Florida airport opened up a container to find a live missile.

The shocking find happened on Friday afternoon at Lakeland Linder International Airport east of Tampa. It’s not known how the missile arrived at the airport which is mainly used for private jets and no longer for any kind of military use. (So they say)…

The container that also had aircraft parts inside belongs to Draken International.

The firm, which is based at the airport has links with the military and owns a fleet of about 150 former military aircraft it contracts out for training exercises.

After the discovery on Friday, the airport was quickly evacuated and bomb disposal experts from nearby MacDill Air Force Base were called in to remove the warhead which was still live, but not armed.

‘It was like having a gun with a bullet in the chamber, but on safety. Someone would have to arm the missile to fire it,’ said Air Force 1st Lt. Brandon Hanner, a spokesman for the 6th Air Refueling Wing, who spoke to the Military Times. ‘It was life, but unarmed.’

It is still unclear exactly how the missile came to be at Lakeland Linder airport The missile was described as a French-made S-530 air-to-air missile and is not used by the US Military. After being called by Lakeland, the 6th Air Refueling Wing’s sent a flatbed truck to pick up the missile.

The crew worked alongside the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) and the Lakeland Fire Department who brought it back to the base where it is currently being stored.

The missile will need to be taken off-base in order to be disposed of properly.

‘Draken International, in the process of evaluating arriving shipments, discovered something questionable and potentially explosive. Adhering to the explosive safety rule of exposing the minimum amount of people for the minimum amount of time to a potential explosive hazard the decision was made to evacuate the facility and its surrounding neighborhood and contact the appropriate authorities,’ the company wrote in a statement.

Fortunately, personnel with the Lakeland Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the EOD team from MacDill safely removed the ordnance. But talk about a MIS-guided missile, amirite?

Reference:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8641505/Florida-airport-Lakeland-Linder-evacuated-live-guided-missil-shipping-container.html

Stories Contributed by N. Morgan