Posted on 09/14/2007 8:19:53 PM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA (CP) - Most of the countries fighting in Afghanistan are comparing technology and ideas this week in the Nevada and California deserts in the first large-scale multinational effort to reduce friendly fire casualties.
Canada's contribution to the demonstration involves three CF-18 fighter jets, a contingent of soldiers and fighting vehicles from 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont. It comes just a few weeks after investigations in both Canada and the United States determined better training, equipment and co-ordination could have prevented the accidental strafing of a company of Canadian soldiers last year.
The split-second mistake, by the pilot of an American A-10 Thunderbolt, left Pte. Mark Graham dead and 30 other members of Charles Company wounded at Ma'sum Ghar, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar.
It was the second deadly air-to-ground friendly fire attack in Afghanistan since 2002. Four Canadians were killed and eight wounded after a U.S. F-16 fighter mistook a training exercise at Tarnack Farms for a real attack.
"We're all very, very motivated to find solutions to the continued scourge of fratricide," said Lt.-Col. Peter Neilsen, who's in charge of the 125 member Canadian team.
Aside from Canada and the U.S., ground units and aircraft from Australia, France, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain are taking part in the trials until Sept. 22.
There are 37 countries fighting in Afghanistan, each of them with their own communications equipment and procedures for recognizing friend from foe.
U.S. Air Force Col. Lou Durkac said the demonstration, taking place simultaneously at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and at the ground combat training school in Fort Irwin, Calif., gives the allies a chance to look at each other's technology and figure out what works best.
They'll also get a look at state-of-the-art target identification devices for vehicles and soldiers, as well as software systems for aircraft that parse the battlefield for pilots.
Neilsen said a secondary objective of the session is to find ways to reduce civilian casualties in air strikes, which has been a huge issue in Afghanistan, one that has seen support for NATO plummet in the war-torn country.
"The technologies we're demonstrating here will aid the commander and the shooter in the battle space in identifying not only friend from foe, but neutrals as well and that's a very critical capability," he said.
Neilsen didn't elaborate on how the system is able to do that.
The Americans, as the leaders in air strike technology, are not pressuring other countries to buy specific systems, Durkac stressed during a conference call Thursday with defence reporters.
The confusion and occasional tragedy that have resulted from mixing different equipment and procedures, as bullets and rockets are flying, has been a source of frustration for NATO commanders in Afghanistan and U.S. generals overseeing coalition operations in Iraq.
"We figure if we can inter-operate to a higher degree, then fratricide reduction will be a direct result," Durkac said.
Some of the allies fighting in Afghanistan held a small conference in Britain a couple of years ago, but the demonstration going on this week is the first concerted effort at co-ordination, Neilson said.
A board of inquiry report into the friendly fire incident at Ma'sum Ghar blamed the unidentified U.S. pilot, concluding that he mistook a garbage fire lit by Canadian troops for a Taliban target just bombed on the other side of the Arghandab River.
The pilot's squadron commander has yet to decide whether there will be any disciplinary action.
The investigation also found that Canadian troops who direct air strikes need to be better trained - a recommendation the army is already acting on by doubling the qualifying time for controllers.
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