Fratricide: A Preventable Technological Disease

摘要

Commanders who lead their troops in combat realize that they may suffercasualties in the process. This is an inevitable by-product of war and is taken for granted. However, they do not take for granted that a portion of their casualties will be inflicted by their own forces. Yet, in each of America's wars from World War I through Operation Desert Storm, a significant number of U.S. personnel have been killed and wounded as a direct result of friendly fire/fratricide. A brief review of some of these documented fratricide incidents and associated causes is provided. With the observation that technological advances to prevent fratricide has not kept pace with today's sophisticated modern weapon systems, current anti-fratricide methods and future materiel solutions are detailed in this paper.