via The Washington Times
In one of the U.S. military’s worst “friendly fire” tragedies, the JTAC, who the service did not identify, authorized the B-1B Lancer crew to drop bombs on a location he incorrectly reported was 300 meters from the closest friendly troops. In fact, the soldiers were much closer and suffered a near-direct hit.The entire article is just...sad.
The military’s investigation said the ground team selected the target “based solely” on the fact that the B-1B crew saw no friendly infrared signals at that spot. In a colossal misunderstanding, the air crew’s “sniper pod” had no technical ability to see the flashes, but the pilots and weapons officers believe it did.
U.S. Central Command released the investigative report last month. Headed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the investigation concluded that a string of technical errors and misunderstandings, on the ground and in the bomber, led to the misplaced satellite-guided bombs.
Most striking: The B-1B’s “sniper pod” lacked the capability to detect flashing infrared signals worn by each American to designate them as “friendly” and to distinguish them from the enemy. The doomed soldiers even placed an infrared strobe directly on their equipment, at the center of their position, to make certain the B-1B would see them.
The strike came as an Army Green Beret “A” team and Afghan soldiers had completed a village-to-village clearing operation in Zabul province in preparation for the country’s presidential runoff elections.
Under darkness, the team was about to board Chinook helicopters to take them back to a forward operating base when soldiers came under attack.
A group of soldiers moved to higher ground to confront the Taliban, and the team called in a close-air support strike by the B-1B. The bomber had come on the scene to cover the chopper extraction.
The investigation also was critical of decisions made by the Green Berets.
Have you ever heard of the training incident named Exercise Tiger? Read the Wiki entry but the quick and dirty is that plain bad luck caused almost 1000 service members to be killed.
Maybe its our culture today but an Air Force Combat Controller has been separated from the service and the decisions made by men under fire (talking about the Green Berets...what I don't know is if they're talking about the survivors, the dead or both).
Maybe the military should shed some of its bureaucracy and adopt the WW2 (and common sense) attitude that in war...bad shit happens.
It's sad that the crew of the B1 don't know much about their pod... that seems to be a lack of training..
ReplyDeleteFault on budget / too much deployment for getting time on training ??
You must know that capabilities and limitations of your equipment and systems. Somewhere, there was a major disconnect, in which the ground forces assumed that every aircraft can see IR strobes, and the aircrew assumed that their equipment can see IR strobes. In any event, procedures will be changing.
DeleteLack of awareness between two services.
DeleteMuch as it went during the Iran hostage rescue.
One unit was unaware of the capabilities or lack of in the other unit.
Tragic.
Bull Run had it's share of Blue on Blue as well as Gray on Gray 150 years ago.
Whatever the case, this is yet another example of how "high and fast" jets won't be able to properly replace the A-10.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats the mark one eyeball.
I'm a big A-10 fan, but they've had their share of friendly fire accidents:
DeleteDuring the Battle of Khafji, 11 American Marines were killed in two major incidents when their light armored vehicles (LAV's) were hit by missiles fired by a USAF A-10.
An American A-10 during Operation Desert Storm attacked British Warrior MICVs, resulting in nine British dead and numerous casualties.
Operation Medusa (2006): 1 – Two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts accidentally strafed NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, killing Canadian Private Mark Anthony Graham.
n the Battle of Nasiriyah, an American force of Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs) and infantry under intense enemy fire were misidentified as an Iraqi armored column by two U.S. Air Force A-10s who carried out bombing and strafing runs on them. One U.S. Marine was killed and 17 were wounded as a result.
190th Fighter Squadron/Blues and Royals friendly fire incident – 28 March 2003. A pair of American A-10s from the 190th attacked four British armoured reconnaissance vehicles of the Blues and Royals, killing L/CoH. Matty Hull and injuring five others.
Yes thats very true, although the air force hates the A10 because it is not sleek, sexy and stealth (and their MIC cronies dont profit as much from it).
DeleteThe A10 has had some friendly fire incidents, although, it is still the most effective close support aircraft currently in existence, bar none. Close support aircraft, with their relatively slower speeds and high turn radius, cannot be replaced by fast fixed wing aircraft and bombers.
Link to the WT article?
ReplyDeleteI have a lot to say about this from a marine corps jtac point of view, that being said I have not the time to go Into it. Ultimately, both the jtac and the platform should of taken the appropriate steps to confirm targets. Didn't know their sniper pod didn't pick up ir? That's absolutely rookie, and the jtac should of caught thAt.
ReplyDelete