LAKELAND, Fla. — A live air-to-air missile found at a small central Florida airport has been brought to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
The unarmed French S-530 missile will be secured at the base until it is detonated. The missile was found Friday at Lakeland Linder International Airport.
Lt. Brandon Hanner is a spokesman for the base in Tampa. He says the base is just waiting to decide when and where the guided-missile will be disposed of. He says typically these kinds of weapons are taken to the explosives range where they are detonated. But this one is too large.
The airport was given the "all-clear" after the missile was found in an incoming shipment from Draken International around 2 p.m. Friday, according to officials.
"Draken International, in the process of evaluating arriving shipments discovered something questionable and potentially explosive," the aerospace and defense company wrote in a statement. "Adhering to the explosive safety rule of exposing the minimum amount of people for the minimum amount of time to a potential explosive hazard the decision was made to evacuate the facility and its surrounding neighbors and contact the appropriate authorities. Draken takes its roll in the community seriously and always wants to ensure it performs safe and reliable operations."
The ATF and Lakeland Fire Department were dispatched and worked with MacDill's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team at the scene.
A spokesperson for Amazon Air provided the following statement when asked if the issue impacted the company's operations, which also occur at the airport:
"The missile has been safely removed from the premises. There is no threat to our associates and Amazon Air operations have not been disrupted," said an Amazon Air spokesperson.
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