On Monday, 24 March 2003, at 15:40 local time (07:40 Eastern Time), about 30 miles south of An Najaf, Iraq, an USAF F-16CJ Block 50, en route to Baghdad, was locked-on by an US Army MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3 SAM battery. As self-defense, the F-16CJ launched an AGM-88C HARM and hit the radar of the Patriot battery, without causing any casualty.
The Patriot battery was forward-deployed to protect elements of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanised) (“Rock of the Marne”), US Army, heading towards Baghdad.
(This friendly fire incident was despite the US$3 billion, since the 1990-1991 Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, that the US DOD expended to enhance the Patriot.)
Does anyone in this forum know the details of that F-16CJ?
Air base, pilot, serial number, unit, &c?
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May 28, 2005 at 5:27 pm