US Navy Pinecastle Bombing Range Complex

Purpose

Did you hear a loud "boom!" You may have heard bombs being dropped during training at the Pinecastle training range. The Pinecastle Bombing Range Complex located in the Ocala National Forest near Astor, FL. The Pinecastle Impact (Bombing) Range is an un-fenced 5,760-acre area, with the eastern edge of the range located about 2 miles west of State Road 19 and the Camp Ocala campgrounds, and one-half mile west of the Farles Lake campground. F-18 jet fighters and other aircraft take off from Jacksonville Naval Air Station, fly low over the Forest, and drop their bombs in the middle 450 acres of the range.

Pinecastle is under the operation of Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville, FL.

Location

The Navy’s Pinecastle Range is located in the Ocala National Forest near Astor, Florida in southeast Marion County. Just over a military owned location referred to as Camp Ocala inside the junctions of Us 40 and US 19 just west of Alexander Springs at the border of Volusia and Lake counties.

The Google map link is https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pinecastle+Bombing+Range,+Altoona,+FL+32702/@29.130636,-81.718836,92038m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88e7b25f7dc24eff:0x72fbf6c1ccb2276!8m2!3d29.1097084!4d-81.7185253?hl=en

Schedules

Visit https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_jacksonville.html and look under "Schedule. Navy training schedules indicate that live and inert bombing will take place at the Pinecastle Range Complex located in the Ocala National Forest the following day and time:"

History

Take from a GAO report "Navy's Bombing Practices at the Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range in the Ocala National Forest, Florida document B-178547: Published: Aug 30, 1973. Publicly Released: Aug 30, 1973." That document is online at http://www.gao.gov/products/B-178547