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Bombing Range Readies For Live Bombing

Marc Valero/Highlands Today

A-10 jets participating in training exercises at Avon Park Air Force Range flew lower than usual because of heavy cloud cover, which amplified the noise.

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By MANDY SHEETS | Highlands Today

Published: October 31, 2007

AVON PARK — Residents throughout Avon Park and Sebring have probably noticed more noise than usual in the sky this week.

Troops ended a large-scale training exercise Monday at Avon Park Air Force Range for air-to-ground missions.
Although this exercise involved bomb replicas, live bombs will be dropped at the range in less than a year.

Jim Brantley, spokesman for U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said a bid for a contractor to construct the infrastructure for dropping live bombs will be awarded in about five weeks. Land clearing and construction on towers and instrumentation will start in January 2008.

Live bombing is expected to start in summer or fall of 2008. Brantley said the noise generated from live bombing shouldn't be much louder than operations out there now.
"You probably won't hear the planes because they will be at such a high altitude, but you may hear the bombs," Brantley said. "It won't sound like anything out of the ordinary."

Dick Cutshall, director of operations for Avon Park Air Force Range, said although the range regularly has training exercises, this week's missions were more noticeable because of the weather.
The jets typically fly at an altitude of 7,000 feet, but because of the thick cloud cover, they flew lower, which amplified the sound, Cutshall said.

"With the low cloud cover, it keeps the noise in," Cutshall said. "So it's louder than usual."
Cutshall received a handful of complaints about noise from A-10 jets, which took off from MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, and flew to Avon Park Air Force Range.

"A couple complaints are not unusual with jets, but for the most part the public is very supportive of the training we do," Cutshall said, noting troops complete these exercises before being deployed overseas.

The jets used were A-10s, which is an aircraft designed for close air support of ground forces by attacking ground targets.
Cutshall said the pilots worked with troops on the ground to practice direct bombing attacks.
They used bombs without explosives that mark where a bomb would land. These bombs do not make any noise, Cutshall said.

Another small-scale operation starts at Avon Park Air Force Range on Monday, and Cutshall said planes will be flying over from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m.
"Next week's exercise will have the same flight pattern but less frequency," Cutshall said.

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