The Washington Times has a detailed article about the risks of "fratricide" posed by the use of the Patriot anti-missile system. The Patriot has improved dramatically since the Gulf War but was the cause of three friendly-fire fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lt. Nathan White from the USS Kitty Hawk was one. The Patriot is a huge asset but obviously there's more to be done to safeguard the good guys based on post-campaign professional military analysis.
In his last e-mail message home before he died, 30-year-old Navy pilot Lt. Nathan White described the challenges his F/A-18C would face over Iraq. One of his top concerns was avoiding American Patriot air defense missiles. White, who graduated as the top pilot in his flying class, was shot down by a Patriot missile near Karbala, Iraq, on April 2, as he returned from a mission. With more than 1,000 aircraft over Iraq every day, White described the chaos of launching from an aircraft carrier and flying into the war zone. After an hourlong briefing on his mission, he would climb into the cockpit and be catapulted off the deck, reaching 140 mph in two seconds. Then he would navigate the system of "airborne highways" created by the military to keep planes from crashing into each other "and of course steer you clear of the army's Patriot batteries," White wrote. It was not a joking reference.
Posted by Alan at April 25, 2003 08:22 PM