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AWACS Crew Apparently Unaware of Canadians

183rd pilot's lawyer: U.S. commanders failed to tell air units

Friday, July 19, 2002
By Otto Kreisher
Copley News Service

The failure of the Operation Enduring Freedom commanders to adequately brief the air crews flying in the war zone, and the AWACS permission to attack, even though belated, are sure to be elements in the legal defense if Schmidt and Umbach are subjected to a military trial, Gittins said.

WASHINGTON -- CNS
An airborne command post cleared an Illinois Air National Guard pilot to respond in "self-defense" to suspected anti-air gunfire shortly after the F-16 flier dropped a bomb that killed four Canadian soldiers engaged in live-fire training in Afghanistan, the pilot's lawyer said Thursday.

A transcript of radio conversations between two pilots of the Springfield-based 183rd Fighter Wing and the Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft reveals that the AWACS controller did not tell Maj. Harry Schmidt of Sherman to stop the fatal bomb run, attorney Charles Gittins said.

Instead, the controller responded to Schmidt's announcement that he was "rolling-in in self-defense" simply by acknowledging that he had heard and understood the transmission.

"Boss man copies," the controller said, using the AWACS radio call sign, according to the transcript made available to Gittins.

Shortly after that, the AWACS director told Schmidt: "You're cleared, self-defense," Gittins said.

The clearance to attack by the AWACS aircraft is proof that U.S. commanders of the Afghan operations failed to inform air units about the Canadian nighttime weapons firing exercise, Gittins said.
(More: The State Journal-Register News Source)
2002 © Copley News Service.

Actually, what the recordings actually prove is that the 500 pounder was dropped before clearance to do so was granted. But then, command decisions are the hallmark of victory.

Oh, this one is gonna get a lot messier,
Dan