[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 40 (Thursday, April 14, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      THE TRAGEDY OF FRIENDLY FIRE

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, the reason I made that parliamentary inquiry 
is that I did not want to be rude, because I had not been on the 
earlier call for special orders and inserted myself with an even 20 
minutes ahead of someone who is waiting patiently for 60 minutes. This 
is the getaway Thursday, and that is why I will speak for only 20 
minutes. I could speak for a full hour on this issue because it is one 
of the most tragic subjects in military affairs: the subject of 
friendly fire; the subject of hurting, wounding, and killing our own 
allies, our own men.

                              {time}  1740

  Mr. Speaker, we had far too many incidents of friendly fire death in 
Desert Storm. As a matter of fact, it was such a high percentage--25 
percent--it was shocking. Of the 146 killed in action, 35 were friendly 
fire. That means 111 were killed by combat operations, and 35 by 
mistake.
  Now, the reason I took this time tonight is because of a ghastly 
tragedy that has taken place in the northern no-fly zone of Iraq, where 
American F-15's the world's greatest fighter, I believe a flight of 
two, shot down two United States UH-60 Blackhawks, the world's best and 
largest utility helicopter. This aircraft serves in many, many roles 
ranging from the Coast Guard and Navy in what they call guard duty, to 
pick up pilots out of the water. Along with Kanan Sea-Sprite, the 
Seahawk is still being purchased by the Navy. It is also used, as the 
MH-60, by our Special Operations forces. It is just an absolutely 
superb Sikorski helicopter.
  Today, 2 of them, with 6 crewmen and at least 14 passengers, 
including U.N. observers in the Provide Comfort Zone, the Kurdish area 
north of the 36th parallel, these 2 UH-60 Blackhawks were shot down by 
2 U.S. Air Force F-15's.
  The President has just had a press conference, and said there were 26 
killed. I have called over to the Pentagon for more information. There 
isn't much available, even to a Member of Congress who is on the 
Intelligence Committee and Armed Services Committee.
  The tapes, the audio, and possibly videotapes of the incident, this 
horrible incident, have been impounded for an investigation ordered by 
the White House. The time the incident took place is 0730 zulu. All 
flying time is predicated on that meridian that runs through Greenwich, 
England, zulu time.
  Zulu time would be 3:30 here. So this happened in the dead of night 
in Washington, at 3:30 a.m., eastern daylight time.
  Now, let us move the daylight, the loss of daylight across the world. 
3:30 here is 7:30 in England, 8:30 in Paris and Rome, 9:30 Cairo, and 
probably 10:30 out in the gulf. So in midmorning, over Iraq, a bright 
clear sunny day, with what I am hearing, not yet confirmed from the 
Pentagon, the F-15's were flying out of Incirlik, Turkey, assigned down 
from Europe. I was in Incirlik the day the Desert Storm land war 
started and managed to get an observer ride on a Texas KC-135 that was 
refueling F-15's on the first day of the war, 24 February, 1991. I was 
the only Member of the Senate or House in the gulf area when the war 
started, so I know Incirlik very well.
  These F-15's out of Incirlik did not want to shoot down two of our 
own helicopters, filled with people, using the operational name Provide 
Comfort to help the besieged Kurds in northern Iraq.
  This could be prevented some day soon by what is known as millimeter 
wave technology, which is already developed in the Longbow, as in 
archery, model of the AH-64 Apache, and this is a battle I am having 
with the executive branch, that I would hope you, Mr. Speaker, and 
every Congressman on both sides of the aisle will help me in a crusade 
to expedite the purchase as fast as we can of off-the-shelf technology 
which will do something about this horror of friendly fire.
  Now, this Hill is already in a turmoil with all the subcommittee 
meetings on Armed Forces that I have been going to this month. The 
truth is coming out that the President and the Secretary of Defense, 
Mr. Perry, were not informed of the F-16 strikes in Bosnia a few days 
ago, two sorties, or the Marine Corps F-18 strikes the next day, which 
were delivered in bad weather. You can see that on the audio tapes. My 
son Mark just called me. I haven't seen them yet. On CNN you can hear 
the pilot grunting as he pulls G's. You can see the dark river that the 
infrared camera shows up which actually separates the city of Gorazde, 
probably the Drina River. One of the planes went back to a field in 
Italy with a hung bomb, and two of the dropped bombs were duds. One 
struck near the tank that they were trying to take out that was firing 
on U.N. military observers, the UNMO's, that are holed up in a bank in 
Gorazde. I found out yesterday they live in the vault in the bank. The 
indignities going on that involve U.N. forces, who are trying to stop 
this genocidal, incestuous civil war that is still tearing apart the 
Balkans, are unbelievable.
  Sooner or later we are going to have a friendly fire incident there, 
unless we get better command and control. I spoke to 40 NATO officers 
up to and including several 3-star generals, 1 4-star general, over at 
the Hyatt Regency today, member of the NATO Warfare College. I had to 
be the one to bring them the bad tidings of this story as it was 
first breaking, the friendly fire story in Iraq.

  The theme of my remarks to them is that we must have a proper known 
and understood chain of command, and it must be practiced over and over 
and over. And that is why we cannot continue to gut our operations and 
maintenance money, or to be stingy with money that involves 
identification, friend or foe [IFF] systems. And the resistance I am 
getting from the Pentagon, because they are receiving such savage meat 
ax attacks, is that they want to wait and delay all new friendly fire 
electronic technology, because they are going to wait until the whole 
army is wired with state-of-the-art, turn-of-the-century, perfect real-
time communications, and digitization between every Abrams tank, every 
Bradley fighting vehicle, every light armored vehicle, every single 
``Little Bird'' MH-6 gunship, every special ops helicopter, every fast 
moving F-14, -15, -16, -18, Harrier, and A-10. We want everybody to 
talk to everyone all at once, a billion dollars of new electronic 
technology, and we want to save all of our dollars, the Pentagon tells 
me, until we can get that done perfectly at the turn of the century.
  That is garbage. We have got to spend the money now for off-the-shelf 
technology to save lives, even if that system cannot be integrated 
later with whatever perfect electronic real-time system we come up with 
to integrate all of our combat systems together.
  Mr. Speaker, and the million and a half people that are watching this 
afternoon, listen to this from the Gulf. These are all good people who 
put their lives on the line to keep commerce open in the Gulf, to keep 
oil flowing.
  By the way, imagine what Saddam Hussein is doing. Is he out on his 
porch, this tin pot dictator, shooting off his 9 millimeter in the air 
because more people died today than died in the entire operation in 
Grenada? That was 19, with one friendly fire.
  How about Urgent Fury in Panama? That operation was 23 lives, plus 
the young Navy officer, Lieutenant Roberto Paz, Bob Peace, who was 
executed at the gate the first day, the incident that triggered 
President Bush's move into Panama. That was 23.
  We lost 26 men today. This may be the biggest friendly fire incident 
since World War II.
  Listen to these incidents from the Gulf. January 29, four Marines 
killed when their LAV is struck by a Tow missile fired from another 
light armored vehicle west of Kachi.

                              {time}  1750

  That was a month before the land war started.
  Valentine's Day, February 14, 1991, three soldiers wounded in a small 
arms exchange during urban clearing operations in the town of Arky Amah 
Al Jadid, Saudi Arabia. February 24, one Marine killed when his convoy 
is fired upon by a tank.
  February 26, three soldiers killed, three wounded when their armored 
personnel carrier is hit by machine-gun fire from a tank. February 26, 
same day, one soldier killed when his vehicle is hit by a premature 
burst of an artillery round. That is the kind of thing where there is 
not too much you can do. That sounds like the T.V., 2-hour movie with 
Carol Burnett, ``Friendly Fire,'' where an artillery shell hit a tree 
and detonated over friendly forces. Those kind of incidents are almost 
impossible to prevent in the heat of battle.
  The same day, February 26, five soldiers wounded when their Bradley 
fighting vehicle is incorrectly identified and hit by a TOW missile. 
That missile is guided by a wire right through the target, always a 
direct hit.
  Same day, February 26, two big M1A1 Abrams tanks hit by fire from 
another Abrams tank. No casualties. Thank God for the reactive armor on 
an M1A1 tank.
  Same day, February 26, this is all the third day of the land war, two 
soldiers killed, six wounded when their Bradley, operating in reduced 
visibility, is fired upon by a friendly M1 Abrams tank. That is one, 
two, three, four, five incidents happening, well, given that the war 
started the night before, the second day in the land war.
  The sixth incident that day, two Bradleys, operating at night in 
reduced visibility, fired upon by an M1. Thank God, no casualties.
  Next day, February 27, six soldiers killed, 25 wounded when five M1 
tanks and five Bradleys are fired upon by an M1 tank because of 
incorrect identification.
  February 27, two soldiers killed, nine wounded when three Bradleys 
were fired upon by an M1 tank.
  February 27, third of six incidents that day, one soldier killed, one 
wounded when two Bradleys are identified incorrectly at night in the 
rain and fired upon by an M1 tank.
  February 27, this would be incident four of six, one soldier killed, 
two wounded, two Bradleys hit by fire from, again, an M1 Abrams while 
operating in rain and smoke at night during an attack on a bunker.
  February 27, two soldiers killed, two wounded when their Bradley is 
fired upon by an M1 tank. The last incident that day, six of six, one 
soldier killed, one wounded by machine gun fire when they are 
identified incorrectly as Iraqi troops.
  Now, that was all ground to ground. Let us go back to January, to the 
23d. The air war is still going on, a month before the ground war.
  An Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt fires on a Marine observation post. 
Luckily, no one hit. Lucky for that A-10 pilot. He would carry that the 
rest of his life.
  The next day, January 24, one Marine, one soldier wounded, another 
Thunderbolt A-10 strafes a Marine Corps Humvee and a 5-ton truck 60 
miles outside Kafji.
  January 29, seven Marines killed, two wounded when an Air Force A-10, 
this is another ``Wart Hog'' Thunderbolt II, fires a Maverick missile 
which malfunctions in flight and hits an LAV--cannot do much about a 
malfunction.
  February 2, still no land war, one Marine killed, two wounded during 
an attack by a Marine Corps A-6E Intruder using 500-pound bombs after 
their vehicles are incorrectly identified as being Iraqi.

  February 2, same day, two soldiers wounded when a HARM missile, that 
is a radar killing missile, fired by an Air Force F-4G Wild Weasel does 
not properly acquire its intended target and locks on the soldiers' 
radar instead of enemy radar.
  February 4, another HARM missile. It is suspected to have landed 
close to a guided missile frigate, the U.S.S. Nicholas. That is the 
frigate that I launched, laid the keel in, good grief, in Long Beach 
Shipyards. No casualties; superficial damage to the ship.
  February 17, two soldiers killed when a Bradley is struck by a 
Hellfire missile from an AH-64 Apache, six soldiers wounded. I have 
seen some of them burned over most of their bodies, face almost burned 
off on one. They appeared on Phil Donohue's Show with the excellent 
career lieutenant colonel who, when he fired, after trying to recheck 
and recheck and recheck, the instant he fires he hears, ``Hold fire, 
friendly fire report.''
  I can hear his voice now forever in my head: ``Don't say that. Don't 
you tell me that.'' Because he had a bad feeling something was going to 
go wrong. This was a lieutenant colonel out in the field with his 
gunship Apaches. Terrible.
  Six days later, the eve of the land war, one Marine is killed, one 
wounded when a HARM missile from an unarmed source strikes a radar 
unit. February 24, first day of the land war, a HARM missile, again, a 
radar killer developed in the last 2 years of the Vietnam War, is 
suspected to have landed close to another guided missile frigate, the 
Jarrett. Luckily, no casualties.
  Here is ship-to-ship. February 25, second day of the land war, guided 
missile frigate Jarrett again fires a chaff rocket, fires at a rocket 
launched by the battleship Missouri, now mothballed, no casualties, 
some damages, superficial, to the Missouri.
  March 27, a mine countermeasures ship, the Avenger, MCM-1, the ship's 
alphabetical designation, receives small-arms fire from Kuwait. No 
casualties.
  Ground-to-air, a Navy A-6E pilot reports he is fired upon by a 
surface-to-air missile in the ``good guy'' air. No casualties.
  What do we do about all these friendly fire incidents? For some of 
them, it is the fog of battle. Others can be stopped by this, I dug 
into my files. Here is a Dornan letter, May 12, 1992, press release, 
``Dornan seeks to prevent friendly fire. Amendment added to defense 
legislation.''
  And then we are talking about positive things we did. It says:

       The amendment was attached to the Defense Authorization Act 
     for fiscal year 1993 during a hearing Tuesday. The measure 
     must now be considered by the full committee.

  It passed. Here is my press release later. It says:

       Here we go, conspicuously horrific shortcomings on friendly 
     fire in the Gulf.

  It says:

       I drafted and successfully introduced on Tuesday language 
     to next year's Pentagon funding bill that directs the Army to 
     report on testing of combat identification systems, report 
     due to Congress by January 15, 1993.

  That is a year and 3 months ago. It went nowhere. Went nowhere. Why 
am I being stiffed on this? We are all on the same team here. Let us 
get this Millemeter Wave Technology going; let's buy these systems. 
This is one of these things all Congressmen would say, ``To blazes with 
the cost. We want to defend our young men and women out there putting 
their lives on the line for their country.''
  We have to fight even to get Purple Hearts for friendly fire. I was 
in the middle of that fight, leading that fight with Pete Peterson, as 
a matter of fact, to get Purple Hearts for friendly fire victims, and 
we got them.
  Because they said, well, it may have happened in the heat of combat, 
but when you are hit by your own troops, you do not get a Purple Heart. 
How do we know for sure that every incident is not friendly fire, how 
do we know that bullet does not hit a bullet in the sky or an artillery 
shell is hit by another shell and the debris drops on our guys. That is 
combat.
  We got these men Purple Hearts that a lot of them did not get in 
World War II and Korea and Vietnam.
  Now, if my figures were correct, 35 out of 146 combat deaths, nearly 
one-quarter as a result of friendly fire. Add to that the 9 British 
soldiers killed inadvertently by an A-10 ``Wart Hog'' Thunderbolt II 
pilots, it tore these pilots up. They begged to remain anonymous, but 
they have been sent letters by the British families, demanding that 
these young pilots come over there and talk to them.
  I ask you this question, Mr. Speaker. The AWACS crew that directed 
these F-15 Eagles in on these two Blackhawk Helicopters today, can they 
ever fly again together as a crew--Absolutely not. I talked to some of 
these NATO generals and a couple American flag officers. And I said, 
that team will have to be busted up and those young men all sent into 
other AWACS units. Can these two pilots ever fly again?
  I would not want to end their careers, but if I were one of those F-
15 pilots, I would say, retire me.
  I have had it. My flying days are over. This is a tragedy I will live 
with the rest of my life.
  Suffice it to say, in closing, Mr. Speaker, everybody in the sound of 
my voice who reads the Congressional Record in our libraries across 
America the next few days and my colleagues watching in their offices, 
I will be sending you another ``Dear Colleague'' as soon as we get it 
out tomorrow. It will be in your offices Monday.
  Get behind my proposal to find some money in the defense budget to 
get state-of-the-art technology off the shelf, irrespective of cost. 
Get it out in the field as fast as humanly possible. And while we are 
discussing that, I started flying with IFF, Identification Friend or 
Foe, back in the middle 1950's. Why were not both of the helicopters 
and the fast-moving Eagles all equipped with IFF or required to turn on 
IFF so we would not fire on our own choppers filled with U.N. people 
trying to help the starving, abused Kurds in the northern Provide 
Comfort zone.

                              {time}  1800

  Trying to provide them comfort, we brought agony to 26 families 
around the world. Let us get busy on combat identification systems. We 
sure as heck have the technology.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record two press releases regarding my 
efforts on the friendly fire issue, and one article from the Army Times 
written by Chris Murray:

 Dornan Seeks To Prevent ``Friendly Fire''--Amendment Added To Defense 
                              Legislation

       Washington, DC.--Preventing American military casualties 
     from ``friendly fire'' is the focus of language which U.S. 
     Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-CA/38) successfully added to next 
     year's Pentagon funding bill.
       The amendment was attached to the Defense Authorization Act 
     for fiscal year 1993 during a hearing Tuesday of the House 
     Armed Services Research and Development Subcommittee. The 
     measure must now be considered by the full committee.
       Dornan, an avid history buff, said the lessons of the past 
     point to the need for more effective ways of distinguishing 
     between enemy and American or allied forces.
       ``The majority of our armored vehicles destroyed in the 
     Persian Gulf War was due to friendly fire,'' said Dornan, who 
     spent the last several months studying various combat 
     identification programs, ``but this pales to insignificance 
     to the high percentage of American and allied combatants who 
     lost their lives from the fire of their own friends.''
       ``We have an electronic interrogation device which 
     identifies allied and enemy aircraft, but similar technology 
     needs to be applied to our ground vehicles. Right now, it's 
     definitely a problem that needs to be resolved.''
       Dornan's amendment directs the Army to submit a report to 
     Congress by January 15, 1993, detailing the results and 
     recommendations of combat identification testing. Provisions 
     in the report would include a description of the technologies 
     tested, the cost and effectiveness of each system, potential 
     detection of the technology by the enemy, and problems which 
     could be caused by environmental factors.
       The report will provide Congress with the most accurate and 
     complete information regarding the different combat 
     identification technologies available, according to the 
     congressman.
       ``The report will allow the House and Senate Armed Services 
     Committees to make informed decisions in the future on these 
     life-saving devices.''
       Dornan said he discussed his efforts to develop more 
     effective combat identification technology several months ago 
     with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
       ``The Secretary was immediately interested in my enthusiasm 
     to solve the land identification problem,'' explained Dornan.
                                  ____


       Dornan Pursues ``Friendly Fire'' Solution--Accidents Were 
         ``Shortcoming'' of Persian Gulf War, Congressman Says

       Washington, DC.--U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-CA/38) said 
     Wednesday that ``friendly fire'' accidents were a 
     ``conspicuously horrific shortcoming'' of the American 
     military's performance in the Persian Gulf War.
       Out of 147 U.S. military personnel killed in action during 
     Operation Desert Storm, 35 resulted from ``friendly fire.'' 
     At least nine allied fatalities were so-called victims of 
     ``friendly fire.''
       Since the war's conclusion, Dornan has studied the 
     Pentagon's various combat identification programs. The 
     congressman, having flown Air Force fighters in the late 
     1950s and early 1960s, said he is very familiar with airborne 
     IFF (identification, friend or foe) systems. What he found 
     during his investigation of the last several months was an 
     effective electronic interrogation system to identify enemy 
     aircraft but no system that adequately identifies ground 
     vehicles.
       The Defense Department utilized a makeshift ground 
     identification system in the Middle East but canceled it 
     after the war because of numerous deficiencies. Among its 
     many shortcomings, according to Dornan, was it could not be 
     used during the day, could be copied by enemy forces, and 
     could be used by the enemy to pinpoint American targets.
       ``The majority of our armored vehicles destroyed during the 
     Persian Gulf War were due to friendly fire,'' said Dornan, 
     ``but an even worse tragedy was the large number of American 
     and allied combatants who lost their lives from the fire of 
     their own friends.''
       His comments come amid controversy over the ``friendly 
     fire'' deaths of nine British soldiers who died when American 
     pilots mistook British personnel carriers for Iraqi tanks. 
     Parents of the soldiers have recently petitioned both 
     governments for more information on the accident.
       Dornan drafted and successfully introduced on Tuesday 
     language to next year's Pentagon funding bill that directs 
     the Army to report on testing of combat identification 
     systems. The report, due to Congress by January 15, 1993, 
     would include a description of the technologies tested, the 
     cost and effectiveness of each system, potential detection of 
     the technology by the enemy, and problems that could be 
     caused by environmental factors.
       ``The report will allow both the House and Senate Armed 
     Services Committees to make informed decisions in the future 
     on these life-saving devices,'' said Dornan.
       Several months ago, Dornan discussed his efforts to develop 
     more effective combat identification technology with 
     Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
       ``The Secretary was immediately interested in my enthusiasm 
     to solve the land identification problem,'' Dornan said.
                                  ____


                New Devices Lower Risk of Friendly Fire

                           (By Chris Murray)

       Washington.--A report critical of the Army's Battlefield 
     Combat Identification System (BCIS) may jeopardize its 
     funding in the 1995 budget.
       The General Accounting Office, in an Oct. 22, 1993, report 
     to Congress, said the Army would be spending money on 
     equipment that eventually might be discarded if it cannot be 
     integrated into a long-term solution to preventing friendly-
     fire deaths.
       The Army had asked for $100 million in the 1995 budget to 
     test a system that uses millimeter-wave signals to identify 
     friendly forces. After the GAO issued its report, the Army 
     scaled back the request to $50 million, said Lt. Col. Bob 
     Sigl, product manager for BCIS.
       The Army wants to field the system on 1,520 helicopters and 
     combat vehicles.
       But GAO said that would not be enough to support a major 
     conflict and would still leave forces subject to fratricide.
       It further concludes the proposed system would not provide 
     adequate coverage to ground forces because it cannot be used 
     on fixed-wing aircraft.
       GAO advised the secretary of defense to order the Army not 
     to produce the equipment until it is sure the system can be 
     integrated into long-term combat identification solutions.
       Working within the Department of Defense's recommended 
     budget of $50 million, the Army plans to build 45 prototype 
     BCIS systems for testing and evaluation by the end of fiscal 
     1995, said Sigl.
       The Army has been studying ways to prevent friendly fire 
     casualties through its Combat Identification Program ever 
     since 35 American deaths in the Persian Gulf war were 
     attributed to friendly fire.
       The specific goal is to provide ground soldiers with 
     equipment that will enable them to identify friendly forces 
     during the heat of battle.


                            flashing lights

       As a quick but temporary fix to the problem, field units 
     now are using battlefield identification systems that employ 
     infrared lighting.
       Two of those devices use directional flashing lights that 
     only can be seen with night-vision goggles. They are 
     developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 
     and the Army's Communications and Electronic Command.
       ``Fratricide [friendly fire casualties] can occur almost 
     any time forces are engaged. . . . If you limit the 
     visibility and reduce the information available to those 
     people, you could have units moving parallel and coming in 
     contact with each other,'' said Col. Thomas Rosner, project 
     manager of the Army's Battlefield Combat Identification 
     System.
       ``Fighting under nighttime conditions with limited 
     visibility and limited information is probably an excellent 
     scenario for a fratricide.''


                               heavy toll

       During the Persian Gulf War, 24 percent of U.S. battle 
     fatalities and 15 percent of battle injuries were caused by 
     friendly fire.
       Of the U.S. tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles disabled 
     during the Gulf War, 77 percent were damaged by friendly 
     fire.
       The approach under study and criticized by the GAO report 
     involves the use of millimeter-wave technology. This radio 
     frequency system employs an antenna mounted on the outside of 
     a tank. It would be a separate system integrated into the 
     overall makeup of the tank.
       Normally, when a target is acquired, the gunner is ordered 
     by his tank commander to send an invisible laser to determine 
     the vehicle's range. The range appears on the gunner's.
       The millimeter wave is activated when the gunner presses 
     the laser button as part of his normal fire control sequence, 
     Sigl said. ``It sends a question [invisible signal] to [the 
     unidentified vehicle] that [asks,] `Are you a friend or 
     foe?''' said Sigl, product manager for the Battlefield Combat 
     Identification System.
       Sigl said that when the signal from the millimeter wave is 
     returned from the targeted tank, a light with the word 
     ``friend'' will appear in the target sight of the tank that 
     sent the signal.
       The tank gunner also can activate the millimeter-wave 
     signals by using his target sight, Sigl said.
       The Army is studying ways to miniaturize and adapt the 
     millimeter-wave antennas for eventual use by ground soldiers, 
     Sigl said.
       The use of soldier-to-soldier voice communications also is 
     being studied for combat identification, Rosner said. The 
     system would use walkie-talkie type-equipment.
       The Army had planned to conduct an advanced warfighting 
     demonstration in 1994 to let the soldiers decide which item 
     will do the best job in helping the Army avoid fratricide 
     incidents with ground troops, said Rosner.
       ``We're trying to look at all of them, let the user play 
     with it, and he can determine which technology is the best 
     way to fit with my tactics and doctrine,'' he said.

                          ____________________