In article ,
"Kevin Brooks" writes:

"Mike" wrote in message
om...
System Failure Is Blamed In U.S. Downing Of British Jet

The plane, hit near the Iraq-Kuwait border last year, could not
identify itself as friendly, a report says.

By Associated Press

LONDON -- A British military jet shot down by a U.S. missile during
the Iraq war was hit after a failure of the electronic system designed
to identify it as a friendly aircraft, the government said Friday.

Ouch! ISTR a few Brits around here were quite convinced that the Patriot was
the real culprit in this case, and were rather indignant at the idea of
having to wait until the investigations were completed to get the complete
story. Does crow taste better roasted, or fried?

What I find intersting is that the Tornado Pilot had now way to know
whether or not the IFF systems were working. You can't very well go
to the "I'm really a friendly but my Transponder's busted" procedure
if you don't know if its not working. It's kind of ironic,
considering teh British preoccupation with safe lanes through the SAMS
& AAA for busted aircraft over the FRG back in the 1980s when Imminent
Nuclear Destruction was something real.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster