A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer supersonic bomber flies over northern Iraq after conducting air strikes in Syria against ISIL targets September 27, 2014. REUTERS/Handout
Washington Times: Air Force B-1B pilots who dropped bombs on U.S. soldiers return to cockpit
No criminal charges despite investigation that found startling deficiencies
The Air Force has returned to flight duty the four B-1B crew members who dropped two bombs that killed five U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in June — the deadliest “friendly fire” incident in the long war.
None of the Air Force or Green Beret troops directly involved in the accidental bombing has been relieved of duty or faced criminal charges, despite an investigation that found startling deficiencies.
U.S. Central Command’s official investigation of the incident found that the four fliers — two pilots and two weapons officers — did not realize the bomber’s high-definition targeting — or “SNIPER” — pod wasn’t capable of detecting the infrared strobes worn by the soldiers.
WNU Editor: Everything that could have gone wrong did .... but here is the part of the article that caught my attention ....
.... Former pilots say the deaths never would have happened if a low-flying A-10 Thunderbolt had been dispatched that night, because its pilots know how to use night vision goggles and would have been able to see the “friendly” strobes.
7 comments:
I guess those former pilots are "traitors".
Esse 'esperança' é um tremendo otário
ninguna palabra española para "sarcasmo"
"The Central Command investigation, led by Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, also faulted the doomed soldiers' Green Beret team captain and the senior enlisted soldier for a faulty radio"
You go on mission with the equipment you have. I have to wonder about their logistical situation before considering pointing fingers. I am pretty sure if they had 2 radios to take and one was sketchy and the other one was known to be good, they would have taken the good one.
If you don't patrol, the enemy will and they will be all over you trying to cause casualties. So sitting tight until your equipment is perfect does not guarantee no casualties.
I read the book Robert's Ridge. They used B-1Bs there too.
1) The gunship over the target probably did not used their infrared to look over the target. They did not recheck it, were fatigued or they pencil whipped it.
2) I am not sure what the forward observer on the next mountain was doing except watching the enemy.
3) An important takeaway is never give your position to a pilot and say the enemy is so many yards in such and such direction. Always compute the enemies position or expect friendly fire.
Other than that the book was documentation and rinse repeat prepare for more death and destruction. A good read but not an enjoyable one. I read 'With the Old Breed' about the same time. While it was not 'enjoyable' it did not hurt to read like Robert's Ridge and maybe that is due to distance.
-*-
A) The Air Force will use a plane that is not the best one to silence critics. They will use a plane like the B1-B just to show that it was used some time during its' service life for something other than deterrence. Sun Tzu would be fine with deterrence. Apparently some people consider any plane more expensive than a civilian airliner a boondoggle if it was only a deterrent
The B-1B IS a good aircraft for the Air Support role, it has an incredibly long loiter time and an enormous payload. The problem is that it isn't CLOSE air support. When the enemy gets into knife-fighting range and our troops need air support right-frakking-now, the A-10 is still the weapon of choice...
I agree the B-1B is a good plane.
The Air Force is just facing choices due to budget.
And budget battles are always waged and often waged insincerely over hardware.
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