U.S. Navy Jet Mistaken for Iraqi Missile in Friendly Fire Incident, Military Probe Concludes

A U.S. Navy pilot was killed last year during the invasion of Iraq when a U.S. Army Patriot missile battery misidentified his F/A-18 fighter jet as an Iraqi missile and shot it down, Agence France-Presse reported Friday (see GSN, May 14).

Proper launch procedures were violated in the April 2, 2003 incident, which claimed the life of Lt. Nathan White, according to a report from U.S. Central Command. An “erroneous” detection of a hostile threat led to the downing, AFP reported.

Unspecified “appropriate actions” were being taken to protect coalition ground and air forces, the report says (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 10).

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