KYODO NEWS
There has been a report of an unknown number of injuries, a Yomitan Village official said.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that the facility belonged to Japan's Self Defense Forces and was used to temporarily store unexploded ammunition.
🔴 @DDGeopolitics
OK, so who was responsible for that? Was it an accident?
During my years as a U.S. Navy AO (Aviation Ordnanceman) and as an EOD Tech, I never heard of any accidents like this. In fact, the only times we ever heard about munitions storage facilities blowing up was during training sessions where we'd watch videos from back during Vietnam when our guys would get mortared at a FOB. The rules and regs on munitions storage are very, very strict. The magazines, aka munitions storage facilities, get inspected twice a year to ensure compliance with EPA, OSHA, NAVOSH, and DOD regs. Any violations would be met with swift career endings and possible court martial, so, needless to say, violations weren't a thing.
Also, even though bombs and missiles are explosive, they typically aren't dangerous UNTIL the fuse assemblies are inserted. U.S. made munitions require a significant primary explosive event to trigger detonation of the main explosive charge. The fuse assemblies are stored separately and away from the bombs and missiles for this very reason, as well as for security purposes.
Our bombs also have a thermobaric coating on them to help keep them cool when loaded on planes while on a flight deck or flight line. We learned the hard way during the Vietnam years what can happen if a non-thermobaric coated bomb comes in contact with high heat or flames.
Our aircraft ammunition, the gun rounds, however, are extremely dangerous and require rubber lined leather gloves to handle properly because the human heart puts out enough electricity when it's pumping to set one off. However, those are stored separately from everything else, too. You could literally put your thumb on the primer and set a 20mm round off. You'd lose your hand in the process, but you could do it. They can also be set off by a ringing telephone, stray voltage from a near by lightning strike, or certain radio frequency transmissions within a certain distance from the ammo, so these are usually stored, loaded, and transported with extra precautions, and even stricter rules and regs.
The mags themselves are engineered and built in a way that minimizes or outright negates EMF interference to help ensure the munitions can't be detonated accidentally thru EMF or radio wavelengths. The lighting and telephone and electrical wiring is heavily shielded in the mags to help prevent any kind of stray voltage effect or radio frequency interference from detonating our stuff, too.
It's possible an accident happened over there, but I can't see that as a possibility. Even the greenest AOs and GMs know better, as it's beaten into our heads from Day 1 in A School.
Ho lee phuk!
(cough)IYAOYAS(cough)
kek
Thank you for that thoughtful reply. There is a reason this board exists.
Sauce?
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250609_12/
I'm very familiar with the ammo dump at Kadena - spent a couple of years patrolling it and learning stuff. Every single bullet, bomb, cigarette, roll of toilet paper, etc. came through Kadena Air Base before going on to Vietnam during that war... Kadena was dubbed the "Keystone of the Pacific". In the late 1970's there was unexploded ordinance to be found in the jungle undergrowth around those bunkers. We even found a WW II era Japanese "Zero" fighter, complete with trip wires all around it.... crates full of mortars.... and those bunkers held excess Agent Orange, Sarin gas, and God-knows-whatever-else. We even found unexploded ordnance - 500-pound bombs and others - embedded into the coral reefs around the islands as we snorkeled at night. I have a journalist friend over there working for the Japan Times - will have to seek out more info on this.
"We even found a WW II era Japanese "Zero" fighter, complete with trip wires all around it."
That would be a significant historical find. I hope it went to a museum.
No idea what became of it.... the locals take a dim view of disturbing war relics. That one was especially dangerous.
Operation Red Hat
No if its "unexploded munitions" (UXO) that basically means relic bombs which have deteriorated to becoming mines.
Why ANYONE would want to store these somewhere and NOT just blow them where they sit is baffling!
Crews unearthed an old hand grenade while digging up the old gas tanks at the base gas station. Detonation would be ill-advised there.
Media Story Here