This post is from March 2005. Facts and links may have changed since. See more from that month

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Patriot Performance in Iraq

Inside Defense has the full text of the Defense Science Board’s Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Patriot System Performance (Not yet available from the DSB website).

The report focuses on three fratricide incidents—including the death of Lieutenant Nathan White of Abilene, Texas, which was the subject of some investigative reporting (also) by the Boston Globe.

The Defense Science Board Task Force found that the problem which led to the “friendly fire” incidents was “not exactly a surprise” and stated that it “remains puzzled as to why this deficiency never garners enough resolve and support to result in a robust fix.”

Here, here.

Inside Defense quotes Phil Coyle, former Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation at the Defense Department, as suggesting that IFF systems have “not been seen as an important defense acquisition program in the way that the big-ticket, high-visibility programs are.”

Late Update: ACW reader NS mentions that Nathan White’s father maintains a webpage with a copy of the accident report and other resources.

Jeffrey Lewis

Writing on ACW 2004–2026

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk.com. He is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His also a non-resident affiliate at Stanford's Center for Security and International Cooperation and a Contributing Editor to Survival.

All posts by Jeffrey Lewis