Fort Hood, Texas An Army helicopter accidentally dropped an inert training missile onto a residential neighborhood causing an evacuation of nearby homes. A witness reported seeing the missile fall from the helicopter and implanting into the ground. The police were called and as a safety precaution, approximately 100 homes were evacuated while military ordnance personnel investigated the missile. It was quickly determined that the missile did not contain a warhead or a propulsion system. The missile was removed from the area and the residents were allowed to return to their homes within an hour after the missile was reported.

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Germany Following WWI, Germany was forbidden to manufacture weapons of war but the restriction was not always followed. In 1930, Hubert Ruhlemann designed the ECR or Electrical, Condenser ,Resistance fuze which was tested between 1931 and 1932 in Russia. The ECR fuze was designed for use on aerial dropped bombs. The fuze was connected to the aircraft and electrically charged (i.e., energized) before leaving the aircraft. As the bomb fell to earth, the electric charge would trickle through various resistors to a firing condensor. The impact of the bomb caused a sensitive vibrator switch to close the circuit and detonate the bomb through a firing bridge (similar to a match head) which created a flash that detonated the sensitive penthrite wax contained in the attached gaine, which is the steel or bakelite container screwed into the base of the fuze.

Shown below is a German 50kg bomb (without the fins) with a Type 25B ECR fuze.

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Panaji, India A dredging vessel brought up a munition item during dredging operations in the channel of the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT). The munition along with the dredge material was placed on a barge which was brought back to the shipyard. Workers at the shipyard saw the projectile and decided that it would be a good idea to try to reclaim the metal for recycling purposes. Well the idea turned out not to be such a good one as the shell exploded in the process injuring five worker, two of them seriously.

Naval officials visited the blast site and requested that the ship yard contact the military when munitions are found rather than trying to handle or recycle the items themselves. The type of munition involved in the incident was only reported as a projectile.

Denver, Colorado Firefighters responded to an early morning call of smoke coming from an auditorium on the University Of Denver campus. The smoke was tracked to Professor Cobb's engineering research laboratory adjacent to the auditorium. The smoke was coming from an oven which firefighters found to be loaded with artillery shells. As a precaution, the bomb squad was called out and nearby buildings were evacuated.

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Northamptonshire, United Kingdom A 16 year old teenager suffered burns to his hands when the fuze of a mortar round he was dismantling functioned. The boy reportedly purchased the mortar round through an on-line auction website - Specialist Auctions. The teenager believed that the mortar round he purchased was inert as the auction website has a strict policy against posting any military ordnance memorabilia that has energetic materials.

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Anacortes, Washington A 322-foot barge loaded with cargo being towed by a tug through the Rosario straight ran aground. The barge was loaded with 100 containers of supplies including explosive ordnance for the Navy's munition facility on Indian Island. Specific details of the munitions load onboard the barge were not released but estimates reported the munitions load at 9,000 pounds net explosive weight.

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Jacksonville, North Carolina A homeowner clearing his yard in preparation for hurricane Irene made a startling discovery, a military munition. The homeowner, a sergeant in the Marine Corps based in Camp Lejeune, immediately recognized the item as a training missile. He immediately called the base and reported the find. EOD responded and recovered the missile and the warhead which had separated.

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Moscow, Russia An accidential explosion occured during disposal operations of "old munitions" at a military test range in Astrakhan. The cause of the accident is unknown but reports indicate that basic safety regulations and procedures may not have been followed. The type of munitions involved has not been released nor the names of the six Russian soldiers that died as a result. Twelve others were injured during the blast. An investigation has been launched to determine the exact cause of the accidental explosion.

Mari, Cyprus A cargo ship packed with munitions and explosives caught fire at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base. The fire caused the explosives to detonate thereby leveling nearby houses and breaking windows and doors from the resulting blast waves. Twelve people reportedly died and dozens of others were injured as a result of the explosion. The explosion also caused significant damage to a nearby power plant which resulted in the loss of power for thousands of local residents.

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma A tractor trailer carrying 28,000 pounds of munitions from McAlester Army Ammunition Plant crashed on Interstate 40. No injuries were reported but Oklahoma State Police did shut down a portion of the Interstate for safety reasons. The Army has been notified and is sending a team to inspect the munitions. No explosions were reported.