Felix the Cat
03-19-2006, 07:33 AM
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453809.034722222.html
WASHINGTON — Three years after the onset of war in Iraq, the U.S. Army has not repaired flaws in the Patriot (PAC-3) missile defense system that led to a series of friendly-fire casualties.
Officials said the army has not yet completed enhancements to the PAC-3 system meant to improve friend-foe identification capabilities. They said the effort could be completed in 2007.
The army ordered the changes in the PAC-3 system after the 2003 war, when U.S. batteries in Iraq and Kuwait mistook friendly aircraft for enemy missiles. On March 23, 2003, the PAC-3 downed a British Air Force GR-4 Tornado fighter-jet. The two pilots aboard were killed.
On April 2, 2003, a PAC-3 battery fired a missile toward a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet. The pilot was killed in what was later termed another case of the Patriot mistaking a friendly aircraft for an enemy missile.
Over the last two years, the army has sought to upgrade the PAC-3 systems as well as improve training for crews to distinguish between enemy missiles and friendly aircraft. Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces that the army has also installed tactical data links to provide the PAC-3 with enhanced identification friend/foe [IFF] capabilities.
Last week, Dodgen said the PAC-3 upgrade effort still required about another year of work. He told the House panel on March 9 that the army would also enhance the system's software to bolster IFF.
"The battlefield is now far more complex now than it was during the 1990s," Dodgen said.
In 2005, Congress allowed the army to shift $43 million to repair the flaws in the PAC-3. He said battery would contain the advanced Link 16 data system. Link 16 has been deployed in U.S. aircraft for IFF capabilities.
WASHINGTON — Three years after the onset of war in Iraq, the U.S. Army has not repaired flaws in the Patriot (PAC-3) missile defense system that led to a series of friendly-fire casualties.
Officials said the army has not yet completed enhancements to the PAC-3 system meant to improve friend-foe identification capabilities. They said the effort could be completed in 2007.
The army ordered the changes in the PAC-3 system after the 2003 war, when U.S. batteries in Iraq and Kuwait mistook friendly aircraft for enemy missiles. On March 23, 2003, the PAC-3 downed a British Air Force GR-4 Tornado fighter-jet. The two pilots aboard were killed.
On April 2, 2003, a PAC-3 battery fired a missile toward a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet. The pilot was killed in what was later termed another case of the Patriot mistaking a friendly aircraft for an enemy missile.
Over the last two years, the army has sought to upgrade the PAC-3 systems as well as improve training for crews to distinguish between enemy missiles and friendly aircraft. Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces that the army has also installed tactical data links to provide the PAC-3 with enhanced identification friend/foe [IFF] capabilities.
Last week, Dodgen said the PAC-3 upgrade effort still required about another year of work. He told the House panel on March 9 that the army would also enhance the system's software to bolster IFF.
"The battlefield is now far more complex now than it was during the 1990s," Dodgen said.
In 2005, Congress allowed the army to shift $43 million to repair the flaws in the PAC-3. He said battery would contain the advanced Link 16 data system. Link 16 has been deployed in U.S. aircraft for IFF capabilities.