Reporting from Washington—
On the evening of April 5, a pilot settled into a leather captain's chair at Creech Air Force Base in southern Nevada and took the controls of a Predator drone flying over one of the most violent areas of southwestern Afghanistan. Minutes later, his radio crackled.

A firefight had broken out. Taliban insurgents had ambushed about two dozen Marines patrolling a bitterly contested road.

The Air Force captain angled his joystick and the drone veered toward the fighting taking place half a world away, where it was already morning. He powered up two Hellfire missiles under its wings and ordered a crew member responsible for operating the drone's cameras to search for enemy fighters.

It didn't take long to find something. Three figures, fuzzy blobs on the pilot's small black-and-white screen, lay in a poppy field a couple of hundred yards from the road.

"Hey now, wait. Standby on these," the pilot cautioned. "They could be animals in the field." Seconds later, tiny white flashes appeared by the figures — the heat signature of gunfire. "There they are," he said, now sure he was looking at the enemy.

At an Air National Guard base in Terre Haute, Ind., an intelligence analyst whose job it was to monitor the video to help prevent mistakes on the mission also observed the muzzle flashes — but noticed that they were firing away from the embattled Marines.

Marines at Patrol Base Alcatraz, 12 miles from the firefight, watched their screens too, as they kept in contact with both the drone crew and the platoon members, who had set out from the base just an hour earlier. It would be their decision whether to call in a missile strike.

Thirty-one seconds after the pilot reported muzzle flashes, the Marines at Alcatraz ordered that the Predator be prepared to strike if the shooters could be confirmed as hostile. At 8:49 a.m., 29 minutes after the ambush began, they authorized the pilot to fire.

In minutes, two Americans would be dead.

www.latimes.com . . .

Hey asswipe...

1) do you know what it is like trying to identify targets at a few thousand feet?
2) the marines were out of position, kudos for them moving up front but bad luck when you call in close air support.


It is up to the ground pounders and forward air control officers (if they have any) to guide the shit home.

Otherwise, duck and cover if you call it in.

See I don't understand this whole conversation.

You've got a pilot coming in at a couple hundred knots.

And if you are too dumb to pop smoke, mark your location, or gps him in...

Then what the fuck do you expect...it's fucking common sense.

He can't identify you down there, only what you radio back to him.

Why do people lose the story on this?

Friendly fire or American fire. A well-wisher.

malbarre wrote:

Friendly fire or American fire. A well-wisher.

Today Nov 6th would be the birthday of Pat Tilman, an NFL player who enlisted in the Army Rangers and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

Respects to his family and friends.

oefkia.blogspot.com . . .

Killed by rifle fire by a fellow French.

Any French, Yurrup-pee-on, Canadian combat drones in Afghanistan? Anywhere? LOL



Go google for some French kite making company to prove me wrong, idiot

VAVD wrote:

oefkia.blogspot.com . . .

Killed by rifle fire by a fellow French.

It wasn't a friendly fire. It was a murder.

Mad Moldovian wrote:

Any French, Yurrup-pee-on, Canadian combat drones in Afghanistan? Anywhere? LOL



Go google for some French kite making company to prove me wrong, idiot

How bout that, Mad Moldovian ?

bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr . . .

How about your stop swallowing your father sperm, degenerate? some blog in Flinch? LOL

Fucking retard

Mad Moldovian wrote:

How about your stop swallowing your father sperm, degenerate? some blog in Flinch? LOL

Fucking retard

LOL

Romanian is close to French.
Since you're moldovian, I assumed you'd understand.
Obviously, you're too fucking dumb...

Perhaps the families of the dead will now appreciate how families of other victims of friendly fire feel.

Ask the Japanese to make you a better camera with higher range of focus with better stability control for a clearer image.

1. Compare scientifically the heat signature given off a marine with combat gear compared to a rag-dressed muzz.
2. Put an electronic signal on every marine (identifier).

Theres lots of things you could do if you were actually bothered about these people. Instead of just being cowboy brains.

Always happy to assist.

lookanlearn wrote:



1. Compare scientifically the heat signature given off a marine with combat gear compared to a rag-dressed muzz.
2. Put an electronic signal on every marine (identifier).

Ever used thermal sights?

Stick to writing haikus and eating rice & fish heads.

Romanian is close to French.
Since you're moldovian, I assumed you'd understand.

YOu stopped making ANY sense. Looks like you finally contracted AIDS from those homosexual encounters with your father and it spread into your brain. And you were clinically retarded to begin with.

MadRusski wrote:

Any French, Yurrup-pee-on, Canadian combat drones in Afghanistan? Anywhere?

I think Canada has some combat drones in afghanistan.

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:



1. Compare scientifically the heat signature given off a marine with combat gear compared to a rag-dressed muzz.
2. Put an electronic signal on every marine (identifier).

Ever used thermal sights?

Stick to writing haikus and eating rice & fish heads.

Actually I have used night vision only. Bit similar.

Has "thermal sighting" been (competently) tested scientifically though was the question.

You (again) ignore the more useful potential use of electronic signatures (a bit like the ones used to identify any given mobile phone to within a meter or two from space satellite).

One day I may get bored of helping ungrateful...`cunts` (would be the better adjective).


Thanks for your ignorant comment though.

lookanlearn

Idiot you can't tell, it is clear you don't know what the fuck you are talking about.

IFF isn't going to work on troop level.

Point of fact, as I mentioned up thread, they called in the air strike, it is up to them to make sure they are not in the kill zone and have vectored them in to the correct target.

It's not on the pilots or drone drivers.

It's like shit, well I'm really sorry I can you the GPS coords for that hospital, I really meant the target 1000 meters over.

MadRusski wrote:

Any French (..) combat drones (..) Anywhere? LOL

Go google for some French kite making company to prove me wrong, idiot

I prove you wrong, dear madrusski:

EADS Acquires French Drone Maker SurveyCopter - OCTOBER 19, 2011

PARIS (Dow Jones)-- Franco-German EADS (aerospace group European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co NV (EAD.FR)) said Wednesday its security and defense division Cassidian has acquired SurveyCopter , a closely-held French company specialized in the manufacture of light unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones , as part of a move to tap into the fast-growing market for military and civil missions for these aircraft.

No transaction price and was given and financial details of SurveyCopter weren't provided.

Cassidian and SurveyCopter have been working together since 2003. EADS said Cassidian plans to launch a new industrial pole specifically dedicated to tactical and light UAVs, including aircraft with vertical take-off capability.

SurveyCopter will enhance Cassidian's commercial catalog in targeted export markets such as India an the Middle-East, it said.

-David Pearson, Dow Jones Newswires; +331 4017 1740, david.pearson@dowjones.com

It was nice providing you with the information you needed.


I hope you find it nice to get it.