Misfiring in the Fog

By Amanda Bower

Find a clock, and watch five seconds tick by. For allied soldiers driving tanks through the Iraqi desert, that's a generous amount of time in which to do the following: spot a vehicle through the optics system, consult the last available coordinates for all known battlefield combatants, try to identify the vehicle's type, check if it has a special panel that appears as a cold spot through a thermal sight, add it all together and decide whether the image on the screen is friend or foe. If it's the latter, the crew, under pressure to shoot before being shot at, is likely to pull the trigger--then hope like hell it has not accidentally blasted a group of comrades.

That proved a futile hope for the crew of a British Challenger 2 tank fighting outside Basra in pitch darkness last week. The crew blasted another Challenger, killing two compatriots inside. Among other friendly-fire episodes of the war so far: a U.S. Patriot missile shot down a British Tornado aircraft, killing two servicemen. Another soldier died after two British armored vehicles came under fire, possibly from a U.S. A-10 aircraft. U.S. officials are investigating another incident near Nasiriyah, in which one Marine unit fired on another, wounding more than 30.

In today's conflicts, friendly fire is a growing risk. In the last Gulf War, 35 of the 146 Americans killed in action, or 24%, died at the hands of their allies. In previous wars, the percentage was much lower. Although precise data are hard to come by, Kenneth Steinweg, a U.S. colonel who studied U.S. Army War College records, estimated in 1995 that comparable rates, based on the best-documented battles, were 16% in World War II, 11% to 14% in Vietnam and 13% in Panama.

Why is the problem growing, at least proportionally? The answer, in part, is that enemy fire is less of a problem. "We have so overwhelmed our enemies that the ratio has climbed," says Lieut. Colonel Chris Hughes of the 101st Airborne Division. "It is a direct reflection of the fact that our enemies have not been able to inflict serious damage on us." It's also a reflection of the way weapons systems have advanced faster than recognition capabilities. A target can be hit with precision long before it can be identified. The accuracy and lethality of modern U.S. weapons systems are also factors. So is the fog of war: fear, sleeplessness and confusion--constants in any war--can cause human beings to make mistakes.

The bitter experience of 1991 led the U.S. military to devote more energy to minimizing friendly fire, now officially called fratricide--literally, the killing of one's brother. These efforts may have helped reduce the numbers so far in Afghanistan, where four of 31 Americans killed in action, or 13%, were victims of friendly fire. In the new Gulf War, the U.S. Air Force has a dedicated anti-fratricide cell operating out of Saudi Arabia that reviews targeting decisions for air strikes. New technologies include: 1-sq.-in. strips of glow tape stuck to U.S. troops' uniforms and visible only through rifle optics and night goggles, and tiny Phoenix Beacons, attached to vehicles and carried by soldiers, that emit a flashing infrared beam visible only through specially calibrated night-vision equipment.

Then there is Blue Force Tracking, a computer system that collects coordinates from transponders on allied vehicles and creates a moving battle map. The good guys are marked in blue; enemy coordinates, called in from the battlefield, are plotted in red. But not all vehicles in each unit have a computer screen to display the information, and the data aren't updated in real time. The Holy Grail of identification systems is an encoded radio signal sent from a vehicle to a target which, if friendly, will automatically reply in milliseconds. Despite years of research and negotiations, it will be at least two years until such a device can be produced and installed in all U.S. military vehicles. --By Amanda Bower. With reporting by Jim Lacey/with the 101st Airborne and Terry McCarthy/Kuwait

With reporting by Jim Lacey/with the 101st Airborne and Terry McCarthy/Kuwait