I got the report from the Swedish AAIB on my email today. Apparently the Czech Gripen fired at a back-up target streaming 25ft behind the Learjet target tug, and not on the active target 600 meters behind the Learjet (Learjet SE-RCA from SAAB Special Flight Ops)
The pilots of the 2 ship Gripen flight discussed the rather risky placement of what they thought was the target on the freq, but used Czech, not English.
The target crew did not speak Czech off course.
9 hits was counted in the backup target upon landing.
Incident happened 11 oct last year over the Baltic sea with the Gripens flying from base at Vidsel/ESPE and the tug from Luleå/ESPA.
[Report in Swedish for any Scandinavian readers:
http://www.havkom.se/virtupload/news/rm2007_04.pdf ]
Now, my knowledge about air to air gunnery is slim/none, but I imagine that there is a certain amount of "spread" in a salvo from the cannon, even in ideal conditions? Sitting 25ft from where the bullets impact must have been interesting!
Are there similar cases from the past?