Around 8:30PM last night a Black Hawk (UH-60) helicopter went missing around Eglin AFB, located on the Florida Panhandle. Four Army crew and seven Marines were said to be missing. The UH-60 was part of a flight of two, with the other returning safely to base under foggy conditions. There remains an ongoing search and rescue operation.
The Black Hawk was from the Louisiana Army National Guard and the Marines are reportedly special operations soldiers from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Exactly what type of joint training they were conducting remains unclear, although Eglin AFB consists of a vast weapons testing and training range consisting of about 700 square miles, with the over water range consisting of 120,000 square miles. Because of the range's live-fire facilities, wilderness terrain, and miles of open airspace, units come from all over the US, and the world, to train and test weapons there.
Tyler Rogoway is a defense journalist and photographer who maintains the website Foxtrot Alpha for Jalopnik.com You can reach Tyler with story ideas or direct comments regarding this or any other defense topic via the email address Tyler@Jalopnik.com