Edwards AFB's EOD team clears UXOs in Cal City, local areas

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Residents of California City may have heard a loud bang that didn't quite sound like a sonic boom recently.

Edwards AFB is known for mostly testing aircraft and modern weapons systems, but in the past the base was also a large test center for military munitions. Dating back even before World War II, long before the local area was built up and developed, Edwards conducted large amounts of bombing and impact tests on the areas that are now California City, North Edwards and Rogers Dry Lake. 

With these areas now being developed, items are sometimes found by civilians. This was the case April 2 when a scrapper/history enthusiast who had been digging in the desert on the southwest side of Cal City came upon two pieces of unexploded ordnance and notified Cal City Police. These UXOs, regardless of being practice rounds, test items, or live ordnance, are all dangerous and can cause severe injury, even death.

That's where the 412th Civil Engineering's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight comes in. 

"EOD was notified by the Command Post of two suspected UXOs in California City," said Tech. Sgt. Gabriel Barnes, EOD Operations Section chief. "The responding [Cal City Police] officer was Police Sergeant John Boston, who described the first item as a large bullet approximately 12 inches long.  The second item was unable to be described as it had not been uncovered by the scrapper much as the first."

An EOD team consisting of Barnes, Staff Sgt. Jacob Cumbo and Airman 1st Class Max Mitchell was dispatched to the site.

"Both items were fully excavated and identified using technical data," Barnes said. "It was determined that the items were an EX-182 Kinetic Energy Projectile that was developed in the 1970s and a live AN-M30 100-pound bomb from the World War II era, with an armed AN-MK 219 MOD 4 bomb fuse."
 
The EOD team determined that the damage the fuse had sustained, and fuse components being visible, deemed the bomb unsafe for transportation and the decision was made to dispose of it immediately. The team and the police officer set up a safety cordon around the site and detonated both items using five pounds of C-4.

Barnes said the EOD flight averages between 10 and 15 responses to local communities per year, most being for UXOs. The UXOs that are found are typically leftover from Edwards AFB's early days as a test base.
 
"One item that we cannot stress enough, if you or anyone you know possesses or knows the location of any military ordnance items, please contact your local police department and report it."