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.
