During the joint exercise event over 28000 Australian and U.S. military people are expected to gather for the duration of three weeks.
Because their jets were low on fuel each of the two pilots had to drop the two unarmed bombs they were carrying in order to land safely without the bomb load. In order to minimize as much as possible the eventual damage to the reef the pilots dropped the four bombs within 50 meters away from the coral.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef and stretches for over 3,000 kilometers. The Great Barrier Reef is composed of over 900 islands and 2,900 individual reefs. Anti-war activists and environmentalists are now attacking U.S. military claiming they cannot be trusted with protecting the environment.
