EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group will conduct boat operations in the Gulf of Mexico and the Choctawhatchee Bay March 13-16. Each morning fighter aircraft will release munitions between 8 a.m. and noon about 20 nautical miles south of Destin in the Gulf of Mexico. In the afternoons between 1 and 5 p.m., about 30 boats in formation will transverse between the Mid-Bay Bridge and the Highway 331 Bridge, to include 10 to 20 miles south of Destin. The boat formation will be used as visual targets by military aircraft. No weapons or ammunition will be involved with this boat formation. Some boats will have fake deck guns and rocket launcher tubes. The boats also will use marine flares as visual markers. (Source: Eglin Air Force Base, 03/07/17)
