[Ledger] LAKELAND — The missile awaits its final destination.A live French S-530 air-to-air missile discovered at Lakeland Linder International Airport is now sitting safe and secured at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa awaiting its disposal. The unarmed missile was first discovered Friday.
"It was transported back to MacDill where we have munition storage facilities, kind of similar to what a bunker would look like with some thick walls," said Lt. Brandon Hanner, chief of media operations at MacDill. "It is secured and safe and they are just waiting on when and where they are going to dispose of the missile. Those details are yet to be solidified."
Hanner said in previous cases where an ordnance has been picked up, the typical method of disposal would be to take it out to the explosives range and detonate it. But this missile is "too large to do that at MacDill," so the disposal logistics are being planned out.
"Sometimes it is done in Avon Park, like an Air Force range out there, but the details of when and where that is going to happen are not drawn in stone yet," Hanner said. "The only thing out of the ordinary about this is it is not a U.S.-made missile, which is why we were dispatched out to it."
The air-to-air missile — which is made to launch from the air targeting other objects in the air — was found near Draken International, a defense contractor located at Lakeland Linder. Its discovery eventually led to a partial evacuation of the airport’s southeast side for a few hours.