• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

DND warned soldiers at risk of friendly fire

Gordon Angus Mackinlay

Member
Inactive
Reaction score
0
Points
160
Military warned soldiers at risk of friendly fire
Report said Canadians ill-equipped

Linda Slobodian
Calgary Herald

Saturday, October 05, 2002


Four months before Canadian troops deployed to Afghanistan, a senior Edmonton soldier fired off a chilling report warning that soldiers lacked basic night operation equipment to help protect them from friendly fire.

More than one reference was made to aircraft friendly fire.

Warrant Officer J.D. Marshall, with 1 Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) anti-armour platoon, never did get a reply to the Sept. 19, 2001 Unsatisfactory Condition Report.

The report did, however, reach the top level of the army equipment procurement offices at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa.

It wasn‘t the first time a plea from the trenches about friendly fire -- fratricide -- went to those who make policy and purchasing decisions.

At least two 1995 reports, another by Marshall and one by former PPCLI Maj. Pat Henneberry, called for equipment and training.

Henneberry warned the "lack of detail in our inadequate anti-fratricide equipment and training will be deadly in future operations."

Fratricide is as old as war. Persian Gulf War casualties raised alarms about its increased threat in this age of high-tech battles and armies scrambling to form coalitions. Now another invasion of Iraq looms.

Anti-fratricide equipment is still not considered up to par and specific training is virtually non-existent, even as Canada has said it would commit troops to a UN-led coalition.

Last September, Marshall cited the need for a potentially life-saving kit --thermal vehicle panel markers, infrared strobes and night-vision goggles -- to improve night-operation effectiveness and to mark friendly positions. The relatively inexpensive devices used by the U.S. army can be bought off the shelf.

"The bottom line is if we want to fight with the big boys, modern armies fight at night," Marshall recently told the Herald. "If you want to fight at night, you need this kind of kit."

In his report, Marshall identified a need to replace panel markers used to identify friendly vehicles for aircraft.

"Thermal Imaging and Image Intensifier systems employed by Canada and our allies cannot see the current issued panel marker."

Existing panel markers are effective only in daylight, if weather permits.

Thermal panel markers, which create a cold spot on a combat vehicle, are essential to night fighting. They‘d assist in "marking vehicles to help prevent fratricide," wrote Marshall.

He stressed a need for infrared strobes, hooked on a helmet or shoulder, to signal aircraft that it is a friendly force.

Defence documents show the department has budgeted for various fratricide-related systems and equipment dating back to at least 1993. But the country‘s military priorities shift often and projects evaporate with budget cuts.

Two years ago, the Defence Research Establishment Valcartier (DREV) developed the High Angular Resolution Laser Irradiance Detector (HARLID), a "primary sensor for a warning or countermeasure system against laser-guided weapons."

Perkin Elmer in Montreal is commercializing the technology for this.

"Some countries are evaluating it," said Phil Twardawa, head of electronic optical warfare at DREV.

"It‘s not being used by Canadian Forces. When we try to commercialize something, we look to other countries because our Canadian Forces, they have no money to buy anything."

The HARLID "definitely" could have been beneficial to troops in Afghanistan, particularly to identify -- rockets and missiles easily acquired by terrorists. Ground troops would need an anti-countermeasure system.

"That battalion never would have had it. They‘re very expensive, so we‘re only going to put them where we feel the threat is greatest," said Twardawa.

Historically, funding has emphasized protecting tanks or ships as high-valued targets. Protecting light infantry battalion soldiers, who carry cheaper artillery such as machine guns, has been less of a funding priority.

In February, 750 Edmonton troops comprised of 3 PPCLI and Lord Strathcona‘s Horse deployed to Afghanistan.

The army scrambled to collect enough night-vision goggles from across Canada to give to the soldiers.

Thermal panel markers, costing $100 to $400 US, are mounted on most U.S. combat vehicles. Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan had none.

They also had no standard operating procedures on what to do when a fratricide incident occurs. There are none.

About 1,000 infrared strobes, $50 US each, were purchased from Australia.

Pilots in Canadian CF-18 jets who aren‘t equipped with night-vision goggles couldn‘t spot them. U.S. F-16 pilots, equipped with the goggles, could.

Military rules say soldiers must train on equipment at home.

"When they landed in Afghanistan, I don‘t think they had the infrared strobes. They had them when the accident happened," said Marshall.

On April 18, U.S. fighter pilots Maj. Harry Schmidt and Maj. Bill Umbach, flying a mission over Afghanistan, saw tracer bullets in the air near Kandahar and concluded it was anti-aircraft fire.

Schmidt was found to have defied the rules of engagement. Aircraft should not descend into anti-aircraft artillery range, but retreat to await further instructions.

He moved in and dropped a 500-pound laser-guided smart bomb on Tarnak Farm, an old al-Qaeda compound 10 kilometres from the coalition base.

His F-16 jet was less than 2.5 kilometres from where 100 soldiers from PPCLI‘s A company were on exercise honing night-fighting skills.

Company commander Sgt. Sean Hackett heard the shriek of a jet and recognized the sound of incoming fire.

"I had a pretty good idea right away," said Hackett.

The bomb hit just a metre away from a machine-gun crew, killing Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Nathan Smith and Pte. Richard Green. Eight others were injured.

A flip of a switch turned the coalition force‘s established exercise range into a friendly fire killing field.

"If we weren‘t on the range that night, someone else would have been," said Hackett.

Seconds after the blast, Umbach received a warning from an Airborne Warning and Controls Systems controller that friendly troops were in the area.

Schmidt and Umbach were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of aggravated assault. A hearing will soon be held to determine if court martial proceedings should begin.

Perhaps light will be shed on why the infrared strobes didn‘t help. Would thermal panel markers have helped?

"These were dismounted troops (not in vehicles) so I don‘t know if the pilots would have seen them," said Marshall. "I‘m not saying that if they bought these, those guys would have been alive today. But something like that may have prevented it."

Retired PPCLI Maj. Pat Henneberry felt a "frustrated rage" when he heard that the soldiers were killed.

In May 1995, Henneberry, at the time a captain, wrote a report entitled Anti-Fratricide -- Inaction Will Debilitate The Canadian Army. He was told it was sent up the chain of command.

When he heard of the incident, Henneberry searched the Web for other fratricide prevention articles and found Marshall‘s and many others.

"That really added to my anger, because there is no doubt the Canadian army was, again, far behind its allies in terms of troop protection. Unfortunately, this time the Canadian malaise may have caused the death of four soldiers," Henneberry told the Herald.

"I firmly believe that if the Canadian troops there had been given the proper equipment, and if anti-fratricide measures were a normal part of training for Canadian troops, that may not have happened.

"Clearly, I wasn‘t there," said Henneberry, who pointed to confirmed communications breakdowns.

"But the pilots wouldn‘t have had to rely so much on communications if they had known what the Canadian anti-fratricide measures were, if they were the same as the U.S., and if the equipment had been in place," he said.

Fratricide was behind 24 per cent of U.S. casualties in the Gulf War. The U.S. incorporated new devices and fine-tuned fratricide training. Casualties were reduced seven to 10 per cent.

"I don‘t ever recall the word fratricide being used in a training exercise, certainly not on a mission briefing," said Henneberry, operations officer with 3 PPCLI as his last unit tour. He was responsible for planning and training scenarios. "It is not something we did other than very basic recognition signals."

Henneberry left the army in January 2001.

Marshall said budget restrictions have resulted in less time spent in the field. "We seldom train at night anymore, or not as much as we used to."

Henneberry fears more fratricide incidents, particularly since Defence Minister John McCallum voiced support for a combat-ready 21,000-member rapid reaction force under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to battle terrorists.

NATO is grappling with coalition combat identification. At issue is getting nations to contribute money to develop and then buy it, said NATO‘s U.S. commander Deborah Kruciak.

What will it take?

"Blow up a building full of politicians. Not kill them -- just get their attention. It‘s not something they can grasp. To them, it‘s just a couple more lives that are lost," said Kruciak.

Land staff officials in NDHQ said they are "actively monitoring" some programs NATO allies are involved in.

The army‘s longterm capital equipment program, from now to 2025, has $153 million budgeted for battlefield combat identification systems.

"The actual purchasing and procuring of stuff specifically for that program is not scheduled until 2005/06," said Capt. Cindy Tessier, an army spokeswoman for NDHQ in Ottawa.

"There‘s no off-the-shelf procurement solution that we can just go buy something," she said.

The air force is working on an IFF system -- an air-to-air radar device on the CF-18s, part of a $1-billion project.

The first jets will be equipped with that capability next summer, said Lt.-Col. Pierre St.-Amand, project director.

Defence is only starting to look at an air-to-ground solution, he said.

Retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie recalls chatter of an IFF air-to-ground system dating back to the late 1970s.

McCallum‘s office said the government is committed to soldier safety.

"But there is an understanding that these types of missions can be dangerous," said Shane Diaczuk.

This "cavalier" attitude disturbs Henneberry. "Does that mean we just accept our own casualties?"

slobodianl@theherald.southam.ca

© Copyright 2002 Calgary Herald
 
Back
Top