Friendly fire incidents do happen, and there is never a way to put a good spin on it.
Earlier this month a United States Marine Corps Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter, operating out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona was involved in such an incident. In this case, the aircraft didn’t take fire from another fighter or even the ground – rather it was damaged when one of its own rounds exploded too close to the fighter during a gunnery evaluation.
According to Marine Corps Times, while the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter was taking part during a night mission when a 25mm PGU-32/U SAPHEI-T round exploded shortly after leaving the aircraft’s GAU-22 four-barrel Gatling-style cannon, causing damage to the aircraft’s fuselage.
The GAU-22 can be used by the F-35’s pilot during dogfights with other aircraft, as well as against aircraft and ground targets. It has a rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute while its gun pod carries 220 rounds of ammunition – or just enough for a few seconds of firing.
The F-35B’s GAU-22 is slightly different than that of the United States Air Force’s F-35A variant, which mounts inside the aircraft at the left side wing root. In the case of the F-35B, the gun is mounted in a separate pod mounted to the aircraft’s belly. It can be left off to reduce weight when necessary.
“On March 12, an F-35B aircraft conducting a nighttime close air support mission at MCAS Yuma experienced a mishap,” Capt. Andrew Wood, a spokesman for headquarters Marine Corps confirmed to Marine Corps Times. “The mishap did not result in any injury to personnel and an investigation of the incident is currently taking place.”
The pilot was able to maintain control of the aircraft and landed it without further incident.
Given that the 25mm round is meant to take out soft and light armored targets it could have been much worse. However, it could still be quite costly… literally.
The incident was classified as a Class A mishap– the highest level of a mishap applied when the damage costs more than $2.5 million or when an aircraft is lost. The aircraft will be repaired and returned to operation quickly.
Esquire magazine also reported that in this incident, the pod-mount gun may have helped save the pilot from any injury as the mounted system ensured there was more of the aircraft between the pilot and the 25mm high explosive round. Had such a round exploded after being fired by an F-35A, the round could have exploded just inches from the cockpit canopy.
This was reported to be the first aviation-related Class A mishap that the Marine Corps has recorded in the fiscal year 2021 (FY21). The incident is still under investigation.
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.
