I still cringe at the mission planning that went into this (minimal at best)
The main excuse is that this is done on a frequent basis elsewhere, like on the east coast. Biggest difference there though, is the shell trajectory.
Most of the time this is done, the shell is very high up in the air, so even if it did prematurely detonate, the resulting shrapnel is nowhere near the highway through any part of flight.
This time around though, the target the shell was meant to hit was much too close to the highway. So minimal deviation from the projected flight path would result in high risk in hitting the highway.
That minimal deviation meant that premature detonation meant the cone of possible trajectories shrapnel could fly at intersected parts of the highway.
I can only hope that someone took serious note of this and updated whatever risk factors is accounted for when calculating collateral damage. Otherwise this is the new normal of risk taking that is being actively encouraged by the current administration. You might find out something risky worked, or find out the hard way that it didn’t and pay in blood.
Haha, sounds similar enough despite the different lingo.