Live Missile Found at Lakeland Airport: Report

LAKELAND, FL — Officials at Lakeland Linder Airport say a live missile was discovered at the airport Friday.

Members of the 6th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron safely transported it to a munition storage facility at MacDill Air Force Base, where it awaits proper disposal, airport and base officials told the Tampa Bay Times Monday.

The airport director, Eugene Conrad, told the news outlet the airport has received inert missiles in the past as part of shipments for its defense contractor tenant Draken International.

“I’ve been here for 10 years and Draken has been here since 2011, but this is a first,” Conrad told the Times. An evacuation of the southeast side of the airport occurred for around four hours due to the missile being live.

"In the process of evaluating shipments to Draken International’s Lakeland facility, our team discovered an object with questionable markings indicating it may be explosive," Draken International said in a statement emailed Monday to the Times. "Adhering to the explosive safety rule of exposing the minimum amount of people for the minimum amount of time to a potential explosive hazard, we made the decision to evacuate the facility, inform our surrounding tenants, and contact the appropriate authorities as soon as possible.”

The Lakeland Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the situation.