--- title: "That time the Australian Air Force squared off against missile-shooting kangaroos" description: "A strange story about the Aussies facing off against Stinger missile-wielding kangaroos started circulating around the internet in 1999." date: "2021-04-23" modified: "2021-04-23" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/australian-air-force-vs-kangaroos/" categories: - "Entertainment" --- # That time the Australian Air Force squared off against missile-shooting kangaroos ![A kangaroo wearing red boxing gloves stands in a boxing ring, with a boxer lying on the ground in the background. The scene is set inside a boxing ring with ropes visible, and the kangaroo is positioned prominently in the foreground.]() A strange story about the Aussies facing off against Stinger missile-wielding kangaroos started circulating around the internet in 1999. The most interesting development was that the story proved to be true. Mostly. --- ![]() *Their great-grandfathers proudly served in WWI.* The original story was about the Defence Science and Technology Organization's Land Operations/Simulations division in Australia developing the realism of their exercise scenarios. [As the story tells it](), the programmers were supposed to add mobs of kangaroos to the simulation, making sure to program how they might scatter from low-flying helicopters. Supposedly, the Australian programmers reused object code from a simulated infantry unit on the marsupials. The new kangaroos scattered from the helicopter, as programmed. Then, they reappeared behind a hill, armed to the teeth with Stinger missiles. The programmers apparently forgot to deprogram their infantry training. ![]() *Private Joey does not operate with his coffee for the day.* Snopes, the website dedicated to investigating internet rumors, picked up this story in 2007. They found that the internet actually had the basic story right. ![]() *Unfortunately, the Pop Rocks and Coke myth is still a myth.* Dr. Anne-Marie Grisogono, head of the Simulation Land Operations Division at the Australian DSTO, [told Snopes]() that programmers knew what they were doing. Heavily armed kangaroos became part of the simulation, weapons and all. The Aussies thought it was hilarious, and not at all embarrassing. "Since we were not at that stage interested in weapons," Dr. Grisogono told Snopes, "we had not set any weapon or projectile types, so what the kangaroos fired at us was, in fact, the default object for the simulation, which happened to be large multicolored beachballs." ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()