While several "friendly fire" (blue-on-blue) incidents occurred in Afghanistan, the most high-profile and tragic case involving a wrong coordinate report leading to a direct strike on a US position occurred in June 2014.
The Incident: Zabul Province (June 9, 2014)
- The Situation: A unit of U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and Afghan troops were conducting a clearing operation. As they were preparing to be extracted by helicopter, they were ambushed by the Taliban.
- The Error: During the chaotic night battle, a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) or a combat controller requested emergency air support from a B-1B Lancer bomber.
- The Fatal Mistake: Instead of transmitting the enemy's location, the coordinates for the U.S. troops' own position were transmitted to the bomber.
- The Result: The B-1B dropped two 500-pound GPS-guided bombs directly onto the building where the American and Afghan soldiers were positioned.
- Casualties: The strike killed 5 U.S. Special Forces soldiers and one Afghan sergeant. It remains one of the deadliest "friendly fire" incidents of the entire Afghan War.
Why did it happen? (Technical Failures)
- IR Beacon Failure: The B-1B bomber's targeting pod was unable to see the Infrared (IR) strobes the soldiers were wearing (which are meant to identify them as "friendly" to pilots using night vision).
- Human Error under Stress: In the heat of the ambush, the controller mistakenly read/entered the "own-ship" coordinates into the targeting system instead of the target's coordinates.
- The "GPS Paradox": Because the bombs were GPS-guided (JDAMs), they were extremely "accurate"—they flew exactly to the coordinates provided. Unfortunately, those coordinates were the soldiers' own roof.
