Fratricide Prevention: An Opportunity to Develop a Joint Solution

Abstract

Technological advances in modern weaponry have provided the United States military with unparalleled speed, precision and lethality. However, with these newfound capabilities comes increased responsibility to ensure positive identification of the enemy in order to mitigate the risk to non-combatants and friendly forces. This task, that is extremely difficult to master during training, often proves overwhelming among the stress and uncertainty that defines the modern battlefield. Consequently, Operation DESERT STORM saw a spike in the percentage of coalition casualties caused by fratricide. To counter this trend, the Department of Defense poured time and resources into solving the problem. However, technology alone proved ineffective during OEF/OIF as displayed by another increase in percentage of fratricide casualties. Thus a joint effort combining technological innovation, joint doctrine and training and greater dissemination of lesson learned must be adopted to mitigate this unacceptable risk.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 04, 2009
Accession Number
ADA503116

Entities

People

  • Daniel J. Wittnam

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan Conflict
  • Casualties
  • Combat Operations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Fratricide
  • Friendly Fire
  • Identification
  • Iraqi-War
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Operations
  • Training
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Strategic Security Studies