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Pinecastle Bombing Range

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OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, FL — Every so often, visitors to Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest are startled by the shriek of low-flying military jets overhead. Little do they realize that the Navy F/A-18 Hornets may be bombing a mock-up desert village and runway just a couple of miles to the south.

The isolated, 5,700-acre Pinecastle Bombing Range has been used for military exercises since World War II. Few see it from ground level, but from above it looks like a giant crop circle of geometric shapes that include full-size military targets such as tanks, SAM missile batteries, vehicle convoys, airplanes, radar installations and residential buildings.

Bombing Range in Florida
The bombing range includes 9 target areas, including this mock-up town made of cargo containers that resembles a village in the Middle East.


Bombing Bullseye Ocala National Forest


Each year about 20,000 bombs are dropped at the Pinecastle Bombing Range. Most are inert, but a few hundred are live. The range is located two miles west of SR 19, the nearest paved road.



SAM Missile Site
F/A-18 jets fly in from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station and practice their bombing on the 450-acre center of the range. This target area includes a mock-up SAM site with entrenched missile pads.
Ocala National Forest Bombing Range
The Live Ordnance Impact Area is used for 500-pound bombs, 30mm ball ammo and rockets up to 5 inches in size. The Main Bull consists of concentric circles ranging up to 2400 feet in diameter. A Conventional Dive Bomb and Rocket Target is used day and night on surplus vehicles and tire rings up to 600 feet across. In addition to a strafing target there is also a runway and a convoy of small vehicles.

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Ghost Runway
The site has its origins in the early 1940s when it was used by the Army to prepare for World War II. While the current setup resembles a Middle Eastern setting, the original site used a replica of a Japanese city and factory.


Navy Bombing Range
Originally, the practice range encompassed a much-larger area of more than 40,000 acres. In spite of environmental concerns, the Pinecastle Bombing Range continues to prepare pilots for combat.

Photos: Michael Warren

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  1. Louise Archibald says

    What are the environmental concerns? I live within 10 miles of this range and can hear and feel bombing. Very helpful article. Thank you.

    Reply

  2. Rickey says

    They have similar ones out in the California Desert by Ridgecrest using the China Lake Naval Weapons center and Edwards and the Marine base as the participants. There are town mockups, Ship Mockups, etc.

    Reply

  3. Barbara says

    Other than the Ocala star banner newspaper do you publish dates of bombings?? I do not get the newspaper. This past week the bombing had been very active and disturbing. Thank you,

    Reply

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