Talk about fighting fire with fire. The Swedish Air Force has deployed an unusual firefighting technique to combat a forest fire that was closing in a military shooting range where unexploded ammunition and difficult terrain made traditional forest fire fighting methods too difficult and dangerous.
The Aviationist reports they dropped a 500-lb GBU-12 Laser Guided Bomb from an altitude of 3,000 meters in an attempt to cut fire before it reached the range. According to preliminary reports it was actually quite effective as the explosion burned all the oxygen in the area and extinguished the blaze:
“Unexploded munitions and difficult terrain have made the fire in Älvdalen’s shooting range so difficult that conventional extinguishing methods have not been sufficient. The Armed Forces are carrying out a test of dropping an aviation bomb against the forest fire. A JAS 39 Gripen folded a GBU-49 against a predetermined point and the result will then be evaluated.”
