Resident Brings Home UXO They Found. Eglin: This is not an out of the ordinary call”

In Brief:

•👥 Who: Law enforcement, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel, and residents of Niceville.

•🔍 What: Discovery and removal of unexploded military ordnance, possibly a test munition resembling a cluster bomb.

•📅 When: Saturday afternoon.

•📍 Where: Near Bayshore Drive and 21st/22nd Streets in Niceville, close to the Bass Branch floodplain.

•❓ Why: Likely remnants of military training due to the area’s proximity to Eglin Air Force Base, a historic gunnery and bombing range.

Law enforcement responded in force to a call about unexploded ordnance (UXO) found in the vicinity of 21st and 22nd Streets and Bayshore Drive on November 22 in the afternoon.

The call, according to Niceville Police’s Computer-Aided Dispatch system (CAD) started as a suspicious package complaint. According to the 911 dispatch system, the caller called in and said their son brought an object home. When the caller googled it – they found that it was consistent with a “cluster bomblet, used in testing.”

A source familiar with the situation but was not authorized by their organization to speak with the media tells Mid Bay News that the munition was “old military ordnance” that was “in the shape of a ball” similar to cluster munitions.

The source added the munition was described as a “test munition” by explosives ordnance disposal personnel on the scene, and the team tasked with removing the object placed it in a box of sand before leaving.

Eglin Public Affairs confirmed thier Explosive Ordnance Disposal team went to a call about unexploded ordnance “on Nov. 22 In Niceville.” The team took the unexploded ordnance to Eglin Air Force base without any further incidents.

Kayla Prather, a member of Team Eglin’s Media Operations arm added the team collected the UXO “safely with no incidents reported,” and that “This is not an out of the ordinary call as Eglin EOD personnel respond to these both on and around the installation when required.”

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More About Cluster Munitions

The description of the munition located in the residential area of Niceville to the south of the Bass Branch floodplain was consistent with cluster munitions.

Cluster munitions, according to the Red Cross, are “weapons consisting of a container that opens in the air and scatters explosive submunitions or “bomblets” over a wide area. Depending on the model, the number of submunitions can vary from several to more than 600. Cluster munitions can be delivered by aircraft, artillery and missiles.”

In 2007, 46 nations – not including the United States – pledged not to use cluster munitions, due to the belief that the munitions’ ability to rest unknown in an area for years and then explode when disturbed “cause unacceptable harm to civilians.”

Unexploded Ordnance Near Eglin Air Force Base

Eglin Air Force Base entered the news twice earlier this year for its attempts to remove unexploded ordnance in the area surrounding the base. In February, the base reported that it would remove an unexploded bomb from Choctawhatchee Bay after it was found.

Last month, Eglin announced it would explode two more bombs it found in a local bayou.

Eglin Air Force Base entered military service in the 1930s as Valparaiso Gunnery Range – an area designated by the military as a place that pilots would practice their machine gunning and bombing skills in the leadup to America’s entry into the Second World War.

The Army Air Corps named the field after Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Irving Eglin, a Swiss immigrant and orphan who earned a commission and his pilots wings after the First World War and a collegiate football career at Wabash College.