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"Friendly fire"
Friendly fire
Supporters of Maj. Harry Schmidt, whom the Air Force is court-martialing for dropping a bomb on friendly Canadian troops in Afghanistan, ask this question: Why hasn't the military filed such serious charges against other pilots in a series of "friendly fire" deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Maj. Schmidt, an F-16 pilot in the Illinois Air National Guard, dropped a bomb on the Canadians after seeing flashes of gunfire he thought were antiaircraft guns. It turns out the fire came from the Canadians' live-fire exercise. A spot check of after-action reports in other "friendly fire" cases show similar mistakes. -An F-15E pilot flying over southern Iraq saw gunfire flashes near the town of Karbala on April 2, 2003. Minutes before, a Patriot battery had mistakenly shot down an F-18, killing the pilot. The F-15 pilot thought this meant enemy air defenses were in the area and mistook the fire of a U.S. Army rocket launcher as an Iraqi air defense gun. Three U.S. soldiers were killed. "The F-15E, and his wingman, believing that they had just witnessed an enemy SAM launch and unaware of the presence of any friendly forces, began a bombing run, dropping one GBU-12 bomb," a U.S. Central Command report says. -Over the Godoria Range of Djibouti in Africa, a B-52 crew mistakenly targeted a group of Marines on the range instead of the target they were pointing out for the bomber. One Marine officer was killed. A investigation discovered that one of the navigators moved the bull's-eye from the target to the Marines to judge the distance between the two, but then never moved it back to the target before nine, 750-pound bombs were dropped. [To Tex Houston, this is an article about military aviation] |
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"Mike" wrote in message m... Friendly fire Supporters of Maj. Harry Schmidt, whom the Air Force is court-martialing for dropping a bomb on friendly Canadian troops in Afghanistan, ask this question: Why hasn't the military filed such serious charges against other pilots in a series of "friendly fire" deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Possibly because there was no evidence to justify one in those cases. Maj. Schmidt, an F-16 pilot in the Illinois Air National Guard, dropped a bomb on the Canadians after seeing flashes of gunfire he thought were antiaircraft guns. It turns out the fire came from the Canadians' live-fire exercise. The culpability arose not because he mistook the source of the fire but because he dropped his bombs after his commanders denied him permission to do so. A spot check of after-action reports in other "friendly fire" cases show similar mistakes. -An F-15E pilot flying over southern Iraq saw gunfire flashes near the town of Karbala on April 2, 2003. Minutes before, a Patriot battery had mistakenly shot down an F-18, killing the pilot. The F-15 pilot thought this meant enemy air defenses were in the area and mistook the fire of a U.S. Army rocket launcher as an Iraqi air defense gun. Three U.S. soldiers were killed. "The F-15E, and his wingman, believing that they had just witnessed an enemy SAM launch and unaware of the presence of any friendly forces, began a bombing run, dropping one GBU-12 bomb," a U.S. Central Command report says. A tragic error in the heat of battle which is clearly different from causing death by disobeying orders -Over the Godoria Range of Djibouti in Africa, a B-52 crew mistakenly targeted a group of Marines on the range instead of the target they were pointing out for the bomber. One Marine officer was killed. A investigation discovered that one of the navigators moved the bull's-eye from the target to the Marines to judge the distance between the two, but then never moved it back to the target before nine, 750-pound bombs were dropped. A case that is still under investigation as I recall. The key issue in the case of the F-16 pilot is that he sought and was REFUSED permission to bomb but went ahead and did so anyway. An honest error is one thing, wilful disobedience of the rules of engagement is quite another. Keith |
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On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:30:49 -0000, "Keith Willshaw"
wrote: "Mike" wrote in message om... Friendly fire Supporters of Maj. Harry Schmidt, whom the Air Force is court-martialing for dropping a bomb on friendly Canadian troops in Afghanistan, ask this question: Why hasn't the military filed such serious charges against other pilots in a series of "friendly fire" deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Possibly because there was no evidence to justify one in those cases. Maj. Schmidt, an F-16 pilot in the Illinois Air National Guard, dropped a bomb on the Canadians after seeing flashes of gunfire he thought were antiaircraft guns. It turns out the fire came from the Canadians' live-fire exercise. The culpability arose not because he mistook the source of the fire but because he dropped his bombs after his commanders denied him permission to do so. Keith - Why must you always confuse things with pesky facts. Regards, A spot check of after-action reports in other "friendly fire" cases show similar mistakes. -An F-15E pilot flying over southern Iraq saw gunfire flashes near the town of Karbala on April 2, 2003. Minutes before, a Patriot battery had mistakenly shot down an F-18, killing the pilot. The F-15 pilot thought this meant enemy air defenses were in the area and mistook the fire of a U.S. Army rocket launcher as an Iraqi air defense gun. Three U.S. soldiers were killed. "The F-15E, and his wingman, believing that they had just witnessed an enemy SAM launch and unaware of the presence of any friendly forces, began a bombing run, dropping one GBU-12 bomb," a U.S. Central Command report says. A tragic error in the heat of battle which is clearly different from causing death by disobeying orders -Over the Godoria Range of Djibouti in Africa, a B-52 crew mistakenly targeted a group of Marines on the range instead of the target they were pointing out for the bomber. One Marine officer was killed. A investigation discovered that one of the navigators moved the bull's-eye from the target to the Marines to judge the distance between the two, but then never moved it back to the target before nine, 750-pound bombs were dropped. A case that is still under investigation as I recall. The key issue in the case of the F-16 pilot is that he sought and was REFUSED permission to bomb but went ahead and did so anyway. An honest error is one thing, wilful disobedience of the rules of engagement is quite another. Keith |
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"Mike" a écrit dans le message de m... Friendly fire Supporters of Maj. Harry Schmidt, whom the Air Force is court-martialing for dropping a bomb on friendly Canadian troops in Afghanistan, ask this question: Why hasn't the military filed such serious charges against other pilots in a series of "friendly fire" deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Maj. Schmidt, an F-16 pilot in the Illinois Air National Guard, dropped a bomb on the Canadians after seeing flashes of gunfire he thought were antiaircraft guns. It turns out the fire came from the Canadians' live-fire exercise. A spot check of after-action reports in other "friendly fire" cases show similar mistakes. -An F-15E pilot flying over southern Iraq saw gunfire flashes near the town of Karbala on April 2, 2003. Minutes before, a Patriot battery had mistakenly shot down an F-18, killing the pilot. The F-15 pilot thought this meant enemy air defenses were in the area and mistook the fire of a U.S. Army rocket launcher as an Iraqi air defense gun. Three U.S. soldiers were killed. "The F-15E, and his wingman, believing that they had just witnessed an enemy SAM launch and unaware of the presence of any friendly forces, began a bombing run, dropping one GBU-12 bomb," a U.S. Central Command report says. -Over the Godoria Range of Djibouti in Africa, a B-52 crew mistakenly targeted a group of Marines on the range instead of the target they were pointing out for the bomber. One Marine officer was killed. A investigation discovered that one of the navigators moved the bull's-eye from the target to the Marines to judge the distance between the two, but then never moved it back to the target before nine, 750-pound bombs were dropped. [To Tex Houston, this is an article about military aviation] Friendly fire is NOT. |
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