UK Ministry of Defence, The Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to place a high priority on improving combat identification for its forces through the right mix of organisation, equipment and training. The focus is on increasing military effectiveness so that operations are conducted successfully and rapidly with the minimum number of casualties overall, including those due to friendly fire.
Adam Ingram, Minister for the Armed Forces, said:
“Combat identification is complex. No single piece of technology will resolve all the issues of combat identification completely. Incidents of friendly fire are tragic, and are generally caused by a number of complex, inter-related factors – not by the lack of a particular piece of equipment.
“Combat I.D. has three main elements – situational awareness, target identification, and tactics and training. The MoD is committed to fielding the right mix of equipment with the right training to cover each of these three elements and improve overall combat effectiveness. The result will be that combat identification is also improved and the risk of friendly fire is minimised.
“The MoD will continue to strive to find the best solutions to deal with this important issue.”
Regarding some of the specific issues raised by the PAC:
– the Battlefield Target Identification System programme is making progress and we are considering how soon we can proceed with it;
– the findings of Boards of Inquiry are now routinely released to Parliament;
– improvements have been made in data collection and analysis and co-ordination with our main allies – this will culminate in a multi-national exercise in the U.S. in Autumn 2007.
Background Information
1. Combat Identification is the way that the military distinguish friend from foe and non-combatants during operations. It is a process that combines human and technological factors; including the situational awareness of the commander and the individual; the identification of the target (sometimes technologically aided) and the tactics, techniques and procedures used by the military to conduct business on the battlefield.
By improving training, operating procedures and technology, the Armed Forces aim to improve their ability to successfully target enemies and to reduce the risk of accidentally engaging friendly forces under the mistaken belief that they are the enemy.
The focus of the UK's Combat ID efforts is to increase military effectiveness in order to allow operations to be conducted successfully and rapidly with the minimum number of casualties overall, including those due to fratricide.
2. Improving Combat ID is a continuous process as warfare becomes higher in tempo and more complex. Since 2002, the training of the UK Armed Forces on combat identification and the technology that they used has been improved; as demonstrated by the successful deployment of the BOWMAN communications system in Iraq, and the Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF) project.
Progress has also been made in: developing policy and Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs); improving data collection; giving greater recognition to human factors including enhanced training. As our Armed Forces operate in international coalitions, the UK is also playing a leading role in developing interoperable international solutions to combat identification projects currently in the pipeline.
3. In 2006 the NAO issued a report on Combat Identification. The NAO noted: the MoD had invested some £3.8Bn on projects containing elements of Combat Identification; that progress had been made in the air and maritime environments but the slower pace of progress in the ground environment reflected the more challenging environment; and that progress had been made in developing doctrine and tactics, techniques and procedures.
4. In 2005 the UK hosted a major multi-national Combat ID technology demonstration (Exercise URGENT QUEST) which trialled a variety of land-based Combat ID technologies. The next phase of this work will focus on Air-to-Ground Combat ID and will culminate in a multi-national trial in the US in Autumn 07.
