By Gemma Simpson, 1 May 2007 14:36
NEWS
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has failed to produce technology capable of protecting UK troops from 'friendly fire' incidents, according to MPs.
The Committee of Public Accounts (CPA) said in a report the MoD has made "little progress" in the five years since the committee made recommendations to the Ministry on how to improve its combat identification systems.
Edward Leigh, MP and chairman of the CPA, said in a statement: "Over half of the programmes promising technological solutions to the identification of friend and foe have been delayed, deferred or rescoped."
He added that the UK's forces are increasingly facing the rigours of real combat, alongside the forces of allied nations, and cannot wait year after year for the promised solutions to combat identification only to find that they are as distant as ever.
The main equipment project to improve combat identification - the Battlefield Target Identification System (BTIS) - has also suffered "considerable delays" as the MoD tries to find a solution to allow it to operate effectively with its allies, notably the US, according to the report.
A decision on the BTIS has still not been made despite assurances from the MoD and the development of a successful prototype in September 2001, the report added.
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The committee report said the MoD expects future operations to be conducted in coalition with allies and this makes combat identification more complex as it requires interoperability of equipment and harmonisation of tactics and practices.
Leigh added the MoD seems no further forward on co-operating with allies on developing a common BTIS and if an agreement is not reached "very soon" then an interim and more limited national system must be deployed.
Minister for the armed forces, Adam Ingram, said in a statement: "Combat identification is complex. No single piece of technology will resolve all the issues of combat identification completely."
Ingram added incidents of friendly fire are generally caused by a number of complex inter-related factors and not by the lack of a particular piece of equipment.
Nato's Operation Urgent Quest exercise (see photos here) tested a number of combat identification technologies - including the millimetre-based BCIS technology and RFID tags in 2005 under battlefield conditions with 800 troops, 94 combat vehicles and nine aircraft putting a series of technologies through their paces.
The BTIS uses two parts and an interrogator - for example, mounted on a tank - sends an encrypted message to a vehicle it wants to identify. If the unknown vehicle has a BTIS transponder, this will unscramble the message and reply with its own encrypted message which will identify it as a friend.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. misceng
IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) was used on aircraft in the 1940s. Ferranti, in the 1950s, was refurbishing the units to sell to foreign governments. The unit was only about 20x20x30cm even in the days of valve technology. Any claim that an updated system cannot be produced in a year or two shows that the people responsible are utterly incompetent. As to working with allies it strikes me that allies who cannot cooperate on such a vital project are not allies I would want to have.
2. Roger Huffadine
The delay has to be down to the lack of a will to do it. Radar transponders have been around for decades. Encrypted messaging and anti tamper devices have also been around for decades. Miniaturisation is a non complex task. Production can be finalised in weeks. So it has to be down to money and not wanting to spend it to save the odd life here and there. After all when about 10 years ago I reviewed the syllabus for training and assessing electronics grade soldiers, there were so many basic items of useful information missing that, my main conclusion was the Army considered battle field troops as expendable items. I was never asked to do another review.
3. anonymous
Simple solution, get the HSE involved and have all out troups wear high vis jackets, the same as anyone in a warehouse where there is a forklift truck parked
4. Richard
This scandal goes back at least 30 years!
Like the long running failure to provide reliable, secure, interoperable military communications; the failure to provide safe, secure, reliable, interoperable IFF for military planes, ships, vehicles and personnel goes back at least 30 years - to my knowledge.
Designing a suitable IFF is a difficult technical challenge, but is far from impossible.
Failure to provide IFF must indicate a lack of urgency within the safe, cushy offices of the MoD.
5. misceng
Richard it is a 60 year scandal as all the essence of IFF was known in the 1940s. As it was solved in the days of valve technology translating it into modern electronics is not difficult. It is a trivial engineering and computing exercise.