Blue on blue incident in Afghanistan
 

U.S. bomb kills British soldiers in Afghanistan

:oops: :cry:

RIP :cry:

Bad news. Usually friendlies calling in CAS mark their position so just this kind of incident doesn't happen. Why didn't the pilot confirm positions? Unless the pilot just totally flubbed the bomb run. The news report really doesn't say anything. I guess more information will come out later.

Ah, that's horrible.

Bad enough them dying over there in the first place but by friendly fire :nope:
I suppose all the facts wont be known till after the investigation
If ever

If anything like the last blue on blue there will be no repercussions for the pilots

Perhaps that needs to change to wake them up a bit

RIP :cry:

Are those who make these mistakes learning from them?

R.I.P

PS: I am not having a pop at America just wondering that's all.

RIP :-?

Not again! Maybe our pilots are getting tired, and maybe the Brits should pick up their slack for a bit? What the ratio of American sorties vs UK? I'm guessing 50 to 100 to 1, so there is probably 100 times more likelyhood that this will happen to the US instead of the Brits, but why do we always keep hitting the Brits when it happens??!!! Uggh!

-S

What's the ratio of aircraft? It doen't matter, but it's no use speculating until they come out with more information.

Coming up to our sixth year there, I think everyone is getting tired.

My prayers and condolences to the families of the servicemembers that died that day, and all others since. However, this isn't the first time this has happened, to both US and Coalition servicemembers . . . and this wont be the last. They pilot, the forward air controller, and the individual giving the bomb coordinates all share the blame, and I am sure that they are not happy with their actions . . . and will be reprimanded for their actions . . . but chances are coordinates were given, someone along the chain of information gave the coordinates of the coalition forces as the target, rather then as information for the pilot to be careful for . . . and thus the event which occured.

Regardless of whether it was a coalition or a US aircraft which made the bomb run, doesn't matter, in the end someone made a mistake, and will have to live the rest of their lives with that regret, and probably sometime of that life at a Brig or at Fort Levenworth.

This is why it's important to have slow moving, heavily armored CAS designed aircraft to do these type of missions rather then high speed, lightly armored fast movers . . . gives more time for the pilots to have eyes on the ground to assess the situation . . . to provide the support . . . and to more accuratly put the munitions on the target. And an F-16 is not a slow moving, CAS designed aircraft, by any stretch of the information.
Furthermore, the end of the A-10 era will, if steps are not taken now, will remove a valuable CAS/COIN asset from the commanders on the ground. Unless Armed Helicopters take up that role, I dare say more events like this will occur at a higher rate then experienced now.
Thus, bring back aircraft with the same mission specifications as the OV-10 . . . and continue the service life of the A-10 . . . speed doesn't always mean life . . . sometimes taking your time, means saving a life below you. :up:

I agree - keep the old hog around. Fast movers have their place for heavily fortified areas - get in get out fast, but for CAS, how do you beat the A-10? It can take a hit from a SAM and still fly home as it proved a couple times in Bosnia - the plane may be a total loss, but the pilot goes home.

I'll see if I can find an article on it, since the two on this page are out of date:
http://www.a-10.org/a10-news.html


I had to include this - Here is an example of indirect fire kill over Bosnia!:

I see your point but in practice the results have been the same; a USAF A-10 obliterated a few of our boys last year with its cannon. Perhaps the new A-10C with all its digital upgrades is more promising.

With soldiers on the ground carrying GPS devices there should be much less of this happening.

Sadly, we will probably never get told who is to blame here. In the past, the guys on the ground were as likely to be at fault as the pilots.

Salute to the Brits. Any losses are sad, these even more so.


I agree that the old Warthogs are best suited for this.