Friendly fire deaths could be avoided

3 May 07
Delays in supplying equipment mean 'little progress' has been made in protecting UK troops from 'devastating' friendly fire incidents, according to the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

04 May 2007

Delays in supplying equipment mean 'little progress' has been made in protecting UK troops from 'devastating' friendly fire incidents, according to the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

Chair Edward Leigh said: 'At the moment, pretty well the only solution to avoid being shot at by an American aeroplane if you're in a war, standing on the top of a British tank, is to have a great big Union Jack flying on top of your tank,' he said. 'The Americans have the technology available so that they can recognise each other, so they don't shoot each other up, but we have no system by which their aeroplanes can recognise our tanks as being friendly.'

In a report on May 1, the committee said the Ministry of Defence had 'failed to develop viable combat identification solutions to counter the risks of friendly fire incidents, despite their devastating effects'.

While some improvements had been made, outstanding issues had to be addressed 'without further delay'. Leigh said: 'Over half of the programmes promising technological solutions to the identification of friend and foe have been delayed, deferred or re-scoped.'

Armed forces minister Adam Ingram said the MoD would 'continue to strive' to find the best ways to avoid friendly fire incidents. But he said: 'Combat identification is complex. No single piece of technology will resolve all the issues of combat identification completely.'

PFmay2007

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