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CNN Live Today
F-16 Hits Patriot Missile Site in Southern Iraq
Aired March 25, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get to Tom Mintier quickly now in Qatar, word about an F-16 hitting a patriot missile battery in southern Iraq.
Tom, what do you have for us there?
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, another incident of friendly fire. This was not mentioned in the CENTCOM briefing, but came out just afterwards from the combined forces air component command public relations division. They said at 7:40 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, an F-16 fighter engaged a U.S. Patriot missile on the ground about 30 miles south of Ano Jaf (ph). The F-16 pilot executed what's termed a strike against the Patriot while en route to a mission near Baghdad. No U.S. soldiers were killed or injured in the strike. The incident is under review to ensure the future safety of the patriot crews and air crews as well.
Now you will remember that just a couple of days ago, that there was another incident, this in Kuwait, where a Patriot missile battery shot down a British Air Force tornado jet.
So this is the second time that we've seen a friendly fire incident involving patriot missile battery. This time they were on the receiving end of a strike by an F-16.
Again, this did not come out in the CENTCOM briefing. It happened 7:40 in the morning yesterday, so almost 24 hours ago. Very interesting, they have two investigations now involving a Patriot missile battery, one for where they fired and one from where they were struck -- Bill.
HEMMER: Tom, listen I'm not an expert on this stuff. I don't think you are either. I don't think you are either, so I don't mean to stump you on this question, but is it possible that Patriot missile battery was locking on the F-16, which would have alerted the pilot to take action on the ground, or is this a scenario that just has no clear answer right now?
MINTIER: Well, it has no clear answer to us. To investigators, I'm sure they have more data than we do. But these airplanes have friend, foe transponders, that basically are supposed to signal to a patriot missile battery that they are in the area. Whether or not the F-16 responded to the radar locking on it, and you know, they didn't -- or had a failure of communications between the aircraft and the patriot missile battery is something that's going to be part of the investigation. But it's quite difficult. I'm told by military people that you have so many aircraft. There are 1,400 sorties being flown today over Iraq. So there are so many aircraft in the air at one time, and you have the potential for missile strikes, even yesterday, coming out of Iraq into Kuwait, that there are a lot of nervous people with their fingers on the trigger on both sides.
So again, we've seen several instances of friendly fire so far in this conflict. The latest involving two American units firing at each other.
HEMMER: OK, Tom, thanks. Tom Mintier in Qatar.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 25, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get to Tom Mintier quickly now in Qatar, word about an F-16 hitting a patriot missile battery in southern Iraq.
Tom, what do you have for us there?
TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, another incident of friendly fire. This was not mentioned in the CENTCOM briefing, but came out just afterwards from the combined forces air component command public relations division. They said at 7:40 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, an F-16 fighter engaged a U.S. Patriot missile on the ground about 30 miles south of Ano Jaf (ph). The F-16 pilot executed what's termed a strike against the Patriot while en route to a mission near Baghdad. No U.S. soldiers were killed or injured in the strike. The incident is under review to ensure the future safety of the patriot crews and air crews as well.
Now you will remember that just a couple of days ago, that there was another incident, this in Kuwait, where a Patriot missile battery shot down a British Air Force tornado jet.
So this is the second time that we've seen a friendly fire incident involving patriot missile battery. This time they were on the receiving end of a strike by an F-16.
Again, this did not come out in the CENTCOM briefing. It happened 7:40 in the morning yesterday, so almost 24 hours ago. Very interesting, they have two investigations now involving a Patriot missile battery, one for where they fired and one from where they were struck -- Bill.
HEMMER: Tom, listen I'm not an expert on this stuff. I don't think you are either. I don't think you are either, so I don't mean to stump you on this question, but is it possible that Patriot missile battery was locking on the F-16, which would have alerted the pilot to take action on the ground, or is this a scenario that just has no clear answer right now?
MINTIER: Well, it has no clear answer to us. To investigators, I'm sure they have more data than we do. But these airplanes have friend, foe transponders, that basically are supposed to signal to a patriot missile battery that they are in the area. Whether or not the F-16 responded to the radar locking on it, and you know, they didn't -- or had a failure of communications between the aircraft and the patriot missile battery is something that's going to be part of the investigation. But it's quite difficult. I'm told by military people that you have so many aircraft. There are 1,400 sorties being flown today over Iraq. So there are so many aircraft in the air at one time, and you have the potential for missile strikes, even yesterday, coming out of Iraq into Kuwait, that there are a lot of nervous people with their fingers on the trigger on both sides.
So again, we've seen several instances of friendly fire so far in this conflict. The latest involving two American units firing at each other.
HEMMER: OK, Tom, thanks. Tom Mintier in Qatar.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
