HAILED by strategists as one of the most influential assets of the coalition arsenal, the A10 “tankbuster” aircraft has also flown into war with a history of “friendly fire” incidents.

The A10 Thunderbolt, known as the “Warthog”, was responsible for the worst “friendly fire” incident of the 1991 Gulf War. During the latest incident, the pilot of the A10 is believed to have opened fire on British troops using the aircraft’s rotating Gatling machinegun, which can fire 3,900 rounds a minute.

In 1991 two American A10 ground-attack aircraft fired Maverick missiles at a British armoured convoy, killing nine soldiers from The Royal Fusiliers and wounding 11 others. The incident provoked outrage among British Forces and prompted calls for a thorough overhaul of strategies to prevent a recurrence.

Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Larpent, who was in command of the Fusiliers in the 1991 war, accused the Ministry of Defence this year of “serious negligence” for failing to implement a workable new system to help pilots to identify friendly ground forces.

In 1991, anti-friendly fire technology was extremely limited, resulting in the deaths of 35 American soldiers in addition to the nine British deaths. During the Gulf War the only protection offered to some allied vehicles was to have the Greek letter “lamda” marked in reflective tape on their roofs.

Since then the Government has spent £400 million on new technology. The Identification Friend or Foe system uses radiowaves and laser beams to enable aircraft, anti-aircraft batteries and ships to distinguish between coalition and enemy forces.

Vehicles and soldiers’ helmets are also marked with thermal-imaging panels. Some vehicles carry infra-red beacons, with serial numbers written in reflective tape that can be detected using nightvision goggles.

America has also spent £107 million on a battlefield combat identification system. This uses laser beams to distinguish between friend and foe.

Commanders also make better use of computer systems to track movements on the battlefield. Vehicles equipped with the US Army’s Below System software relay positional data back to command posts and can monitor the movements of other vehicles equipped with the same technology.

However, commanders concede that casualties from “friendly fire” will remain an element of even the most high-tech campaign.

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