The error of the drone operator led to the death of their own soldiers

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The error of the drone operator led to the death of their own soldiers


The US military announced information regarding the investigation, when the US Air Force unmanned aircraft destroyed its own soldiers. This incident happened on April 6 and caused a strong response among the military. The circumstances of the death of American soldiers and their causes lasted for several months, and the published report of the investigation takes page 381.

For the first time, an unmanned aircraft opened fire on soldiers in the Afghan Helmand province on 8: 51 in the morning. A platoon of Sergeant Jeremy Smith was shot at by the enemy. His unit was forced to split into two groups in order to try to make way at the crossroads in the city of Sangin. There is a shootout with Afghan militants almost every day.

Sergeant Smith and Medic Benjamin Rust separated from one of their groups and hid behind a hedge. After that, the US Marines opened heavy fire on the building in which the Taliban had settled. It was at this moment that the infrared camera of the Predator UAV "saw" the Marines. Due to the low level of illumination, observation in the visible range was impossible, so the operator drone could only observe the outlines of people and their weapon.

Sergeant Smith assumed that the drone would open fire on the building with the militants, which was located at a distance of 200 from it. at the goal. But the operator of the UAV saw flashes from three machine guns, as well as the fact that the fire was fired in a different direction from where the Americans were shooting. The Predator operator thought that three Afghan militants were firing at the Marines. As a result, the missile was fired not by the militants entrenched in the building, but by the Smith group. The drone operator quietly counted down the time to the missile strike, when the Americans at 17-th second realized that the missile was not aimed at the building with the militants. However, their radio message was late: an exploding rocket killed two American soldiers on the spot.

The high-precision weapons of the Predator UAV and the highly professional virtual crew do not give an absolute guarantee of complete security for their own soldiers and civilians.

As follows from the chat records, through which military analysts communicate with UAV crews, demonstrated that the Predator operator received information such as: “the belonging of the soldiers is not definable” and “the direction of the air strike has nothing to do with the land request troops. " These messages were received by the coordinator, who is responsible for transmitting such information to the UAV pilot, but the coordinator was an intern and, most likely, this was the cause of the tragedy. The investigation came to a disappointing conclusion: two American soldiers died due to insufficient situational awareness and the ability to distinguish between enemies and their own.

This incident was another, this time tragically ended for American soldiers, and not peaceful Afghan residents, which once again reminded of the urgent need for the development of unmanned percussion weapons in the complex. Ultra-precise weapons and remoteness from the site of military operations bring a significant advantage only when there is an opportunity to distinguish enemies from their soldiers and civilians. The multistage system of analysis and coordination of the tactical situation, which is used during close fire contact, has demonstrated its imperfection and as a result, drones become a tool that sows death everywhere and everywhere. And worst of all, the UAVs rarely do not hit the target, and people who have fallen under its fire, because of operator errors, have almost no chance to survive.
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    1. +9
      21 October 2011 08: 46
      Yesterday's gamers just changed their chairs, they do not feel fear, fatigue, hunger, cold, thirst, they sip coffee by pressing the "start" key, they do not see blood, they remained computer fighters and became one hundred percent killers so necessary for the US army
      1. Sergh
        +2
        21 October 2011 22: 05
        Vadim! We also cut along the grid and sometimes fell. I say, they’ll play out, I know perfectly well, hack, signal interception. Can you imagine what you can do ?! I would try !!!

        In general, I have a lot of ideas regarding radio interception, from the 80s myself, a design engineer, I could get to the Shell, knowing the system (I’m already guessing), in the S-400 compartment, Buk, Shell I wouldn’t climb , i.e. in a mobile group. The main thing is the dangerous broadcast. Arrangement of additional radio interference, meters for 200-300. Well, and other tricks. There are many of them, they are on a case by case basis. I am studying all the technologies and special and sov.sekr. Merikosov, I’ll fill them up anyway. I tried on a computer!
      2. His
        0
        22 October 2011 20: 31
        Good news. And on the drone there is the right program type will crash
    2. boos24
      +11
      21 October 2011 10: 01
      so let them restart the mission and go again,
      1. Ion coaelung
        +1
        21 October 2011 10: 26
        Quick load (F8) and all the way :)
    3. +6
      21 October 2011 10: 23
      Now the soldiers must be equipped with a friend or foe system, like on airplanes.
      1. +1
        21 October 2011 12: 12
        You may not be aware, but such a system for foot soldiers is already available.
        1. +3
          21 October 2011 16: 08
          and we see how it works wink
          1. 0
            22 October 2011 20: 35
            and we see how it works

            Even AKM sometimes wedges.
    4. Ion coaelung
      +2
      21 October 2011 10: 30
      therefore, the drone operator could only observe the contours of people and their weapons.
      And what, again, the Pindos ran with Kalash, or the operator could not determine the trunk? That's what one logic brings to, the intuition is dulled by the Americans ...
    5. Superduck
      0
      21 October 2011 10: 36
      yeah, do you think that in the IR spectrum you can also read the serial number on the trunk? Visit YouTube, there are many videos of how Apache works at night, it’s very rare to see the contours of a rifle.
    6. jamert
      +5
      21 October 2011 10: 43
      That is, "the cowardly Pindos who do not fight in Afghanistan, but sit on the bases," all the same, as it turned out, enter into clashes with the Taliban.
      And "friendly fire" was, is and will be in any conflict. And by the way, manned aircraft in this regard are no different from unmanned aircraft.
      1. +5
        21 October 2011 11: 10
        The manned plane is hovering from the ground and Sergeant Smith would probably contact the pilot and tell him where to shoot, they are both soldiers, both risk their skins, and the gamer is trained
        1. jamert
          +3
          21 October 2011 11: 20
          Well, first of all, the drone operator is not a "trainee gamer", but the same soldier as the pilot ...
          Secondly, if Sergeant Smith (by the way, interestingly, the American sergeants have some other surnames wink ) there was a suspicion that the drone would shoot "in the wrong direction", then it could contact the "gamer-trainee". Here the whole point is in the surprise of a missile launch in their direction.
          Thirdly, you yourself will find a list of incidents of "friendly fire" involving manned aircraft or give you a link?
    7. +5
      21 October 2011 11: 37
      And, it was necessary to take these gamers, give them a rifle and send them to the same place where they banged their soldiers ... And, from above send Predator, for support .... wink
    8. abc4free
      +3
      21 October 2011 12: 17
      I think this is an indicator of the effectiveness of the UAV. And mistakes happen, however sad it may be.
    9. +1
      21 October 2011 13: 26
      I think ours often quit on their own, so here it’s not for us to tease them
    10. Owl
      +1
      21 October 2011 14: 31
      Before a strike, it is necessary to contact the group commander.
    11. SerjAnt360
      +1
      21 October 2011 17: 42
      The operator just realized who the real terrorists were there and turned them on.
    12. Cross
      +1
      21 October 2011 17: 53
      timkill ... the combo on the helicopter is shot down, you have to re-fill it (...

      wink
    13. wolverine7778
      +1
      21 October 2011 18: 26
      rather, the killed soldiers and infrared sensors on camouflage were not included)))
    14. ESCANDER
      +2
      21 October 2011 21: 12
      I’m wondering, how much money should be thrown into new technologies in order to wet my friends with “friendly fire” at the level of losses from the enemy?
      In this case - why do we need an adversary ...

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