Mar 25, 2000 - 10:42 PM

Cruise Missile Crashes at Utah Range The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - An Air Force cruise missile malfunctioned during a test and crashed in the Great Salt Lake Desert, Hill Air Force Base officials said. No one was hurt when the missile crashed Thursday on Bureau of Land Management property near the Goshute Indian Reservation on the Nevada state line, said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Trager.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday that the 20-foot-long cruise missile was dropped from a B-52 bomber that took off from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and flew to the Utah Test and Training Range.

The missile was being tracked by two F-15 chase planes and a radar scope when it crashed, said Staff Sgt. Sonja Whittington, spokeswoman for the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill. She did not know its intended target.

"The pilots never lost the missile visually, but why it crashed will be determined by investigators," she said.

The missile contained no explosives, and there was no fire when it crashed.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGI13124A6C.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), March 25, 2000