Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``It's a tragedy that never should have happened,'' Defense Secretary William Perry told a Pentagon news conference.
Perry said he had approved a report on the Pentagon's investigation of the accident and considered it a ``starting point'' for consideration of disciplinary action against those responsible for the tragedy.
All 26 people aboard the helicopters were killed.
Air Force Maj. Gen. James Andrus, in describing circumstances of the accident for the news conference, said multiple human errors were made during the incident, which occurred in clear weather in a mountainous region in northern Iraq.
``There were multiple causes of the shootdown, any one of which if it had not existed, might have prevented the accident,'' Andrus said.
A Defense Department source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pentagon lawyers were debating how to proceed with possible compensation to the families of those who perished.
Andrus said the investigation showed that the helicopters were using an electronic system, known as Identification Friend or Foe, that is designed to avoid being shot at by friendly forces.
He said an Air Force AWACS radar aircraft in the area had detected the identification signals but failed to inform the F-15 fighters that shot down the copters.
The AWACS crew ``did not understand their responsibility'' in the mission, Andrus said.
The F-15 pilots were not aware that U.S. helicopters would be operating in that area, Andrus said. A few minutes before the F-15s fired, the AWACs transmitted a message to the jet fighters that the pilots interpreted as confirmation that the helicopters were Iraqi.
The F-15 pilots were at a distance, altitude and speed that made them unable to spot the U.S. flags painted on the sides of the helicopters, Andrus said.
The F-15 lead pilot reported he had visually identified the copters as Iraqi Hind helicopters, which were prohibited from flying in that area. The lead F-15 made a final effort to determine electronically whether the helicopters were friendly and, receiving no reply, fired a radar-guided missile that downed the craft, Andrus said.
A second F-15 fired a heat-seeking missile at the other helicopter, hitting it.
The two F-15 pilots made a final pass over the shootdown area and then continued on their regular assignment, the general said.
The helicopters were ferrying officials from several nations on a mission supporting U.N. humanitarian relief efforts on behalf of Kurds in the area. Fifteen of the dead were U.S. military officers. The others were five Kurds, three officers from Turkey, two from Britain and one from France.
The Pentagon investigation lays out a trail of human error extending from the crucial moments before the shootings to the aftermath.
Pentagon officials earlier reported that the F-15 pilots were given the go-ahead to attack by controllers aboard an AWACS radar plane, but other controllers apparently were aware the helicopters were not hostile. They failed to communicate that to the fighters.
The source also confirmed that some of the AWACS crew members refused to cooperate with investigators and that a four-minute gap had been found in a videotape of the AWACS crew activity. The gap apparently was the result of an inadvertent erasure rather than a deliberate move to conceal evidence, the source said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB