Military Plane Prematurely Dropped Humvee Miles Away From Fort Bragg Target

An Air Force C-17 prematurely dropped a U.S. Army Humvee by parachute, which landed in a wooded part of a rural neighborhood outside of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, military officials said Wednesday.

Reports said the 2 ton Humvee landed miles away from the intended target near the town of Cameron a little after noon, Wednesday. It unfolded during a training exercise. No injuries were reported on the ground. The incident is currently being investigated.

The Army's Operational Test Command was testing a new "heavy load platform" that was carrying a Humvee when the incident occurred, Tom McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg, said.

"A load of some kind was released early and we're looking into how it happened," Michael Novogradac, a spokesman for US Army Operational Test Command, said.

The intended drop point for the Humvee was at Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, McCollum said. The platform deployed prematurely from the rear of the C-17 Globemaster. The aircraft was flying at 1,500 feet of altitude at the time, a report in ABC News said.

An Air Force statement said the aircraft was "on a routine airdrop test training mission and inadvertently dropped a U.S. Army Humvee vehicle prematurely over Cameron, North Carolina, approximately five miles from the Fort Bragg drop zone."

The Humvee was attached to three parachutes, which deployed properly when the vehicle was dropped. The Humvee and its platform landed in an approximately 2-acre wooded area between two residential properties in Harnett County, North Carolina.

"Everything went as planned except for the early release,” McCollum said. A drogue chute had pulled the platform out of the back of the aircraft, resulting in the happening, he added.

"One, the delivery system, all the parachutes, deployed like they were supposed to. And the better part is it landed in a rural area, and it did not damage any personal property and no one was injured," he said, according to a report in Spectrum News.

McCollum confirmed that the Operational Test Command and Special Operations Test Directorate at Fort Bragg were testing the new heavy payload.

Marvin Krause, a base spokesman, said the aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster III, was from the 437th Airlift Wing based at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. The plane took off and landed at Pope Army Airfield (next to Fort Bragg), he added.

The aircraft usually carry supplies and equipment into war zones.

In an unrelated incident in 2016, a failed airdrop which occurred during a training exercise in Germany wrecked three Humvees. A cavalry scout was convicted after an investigation into the incident for the destruction of property and making a false official statement.

It was found that Army Sgt. John Skipper, the cavalry scout who was convicted, intentionally cut the parachute straps on the Humvees and lied to investigators about it. He was sentenced to a reduction in grade to E-1 and given a bad conduct discharge, according to reports.

Skipper was a member of B Troop, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, which was part of the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.